Truth About Wisdom
by Krimzonrayne
Summary: Ranma has a secret. Graduation is coming up and his time is running out. When a carefully crafted plan that involve a blow to the head and temporary insanity blows up in his face his secret would be out in the open, Oh my...
1. Vagues and shadowy scenes

Truth about wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of the blood-god, (NO, not Khorne from warhammer)

Prologue: Vague and Foreshadowy Scenes

Disclaimer: I'm sorry Claimer, but because I don't own Ranma, I have to 'Dis' you. I'm serious. I really don't wanna do it but I have to dis you, so are you cool with that? Well I'm sorry but I have to do it anyway. You suck Claimer, Muah ha ha ha.

To quote a fan fiction author with really cool author's note, "I like being funny."

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(Seven to Eight years ago)

Saotome Genma was running, but of course that's not so surprising now is it? His son, Ranma, was a few steps behind him, laughing gleefully as he chased after his father.

As they rushed into the main road, the petty thief, Anything Goes's Master all most ran into a portly man and a young boy.

He stared at the pair, who was slightly nervous from being bowled over by a man weighing over hundred kilos, and a plan formed inside his balding head. He quietly followed them into a secluded alley and knocked them out with a blow to their necks.

"Whaccha doin Pop?" The boy asked him with grim facial expression, the boy was sure his father wouldn't hurt innocent people like that.

Genma quickly strip the unconscious pair down to their under wears and changed into their cloths. He gestured the boy to do the same while explaining quickly.

"Son, you know how we're runni... I mean playing tag with those people?"

The boy nodded as he pulled off his dirty formerly-white gi in exchange for the sleeping boy's white shirt and tie.

"Well... if we change our cloths it would make it harder for them to find us and tag us... It's Anything Goes's School of Tag's, SHIFTING ILLUSION Technique!" He finished triumphantly all the while mentally congratulating himself for coming up with a suitable name on the spot.

Thud Thud Thud

Sound of foot steps could be heard approaching.

"Where did they go?" A voice shouted out.

"I think they turned into this alley here."

Genma grabbed his son and with strength from years of training under the dreaded master, he pushed off the near by trash bin and leapt over a fifteen foot wall. As soon as they landed, Genma put a finger to his lips to indicate that they should be quiet. He held his breath as he waited for the mob of angry shopkeepers to bite the bait.

"Is that them?"

"I think so, but why are they unconscious?"

"Who knows, probably a divine retribution?"

"...what?"

"Never mind, let's just hand them over to the police."

Genma let out a sigh of relieve. Then he heard a voice from behind him said,

"Its' about time you've got here, we've been waiting for you."

Genma slowly turned around.

"How did you get all the way over here anyway? We were waiting for you at the main gate." The man who appeared to be in his late fifty asked them sounding slightly curious but not suspicious.

Using his well honed skill of observation, Genma quickly summarized the content of the paper the man was holding.

It was an entry form for a new student, one Yamatoshi Kei. A scholarship winner.

His cunning mind once again devised a planned that would put his son up for free education.

'mm... with Ranma boarding here I can have his portion of food and I can go to a bar!' The last thought opened up a world of possibilities. 'No more getting kicked out for bringing in a minor, why I could even..." His line of thought trail towards a something other than food. The balding man could feel his lust stirring as he remembered a certain strip bar they've ran pass earlier.

"I'm sorry Mr. Akimono." Genma said after a discrete glance to the name tag on the man's suit. "We got lost on the way here because my son, KEI," blinking furiously to his son, hoping he would catch on. "needed to go to the restroom."

"That's quite alright Mr. Yamatoshi. Now that you're here, we can fill out your son's entry form.

"Genma beckoned his bewildered son to follow as he accompanied the man into an opulently furnished room. After being seated, the petty-thief reached out to the pen-stand and swiftly pocketed four before selecting one to write with.

About ten minutes later it was done. While Mr. Akimono left the room to fill the details into the school database, Genma turned to his now extremely confused child and explained quietly.

"Son, I've decided that it's about time you start going to school."

Ranma was about to voice his protest on how he's a martial artist and that he has no use for school and such when his father assumed a serious expression. It silenced him.

"A martial artist's path is fraught with perils. Sometimes it takes you where you'd never expected (like the court of law) so it would be best if you're prepared for everything. This is one of the very core principles of Anything Goes."

Ranma, nine years old and gullible as you could get, nodded with renewed enthusiasm.

"Good, I'll see you at the end of the term." With that Genma left the boy in the care of the man and walked off. It his haste to a certain bar, the possibility that his uneducated nine years old could be found out never occurred to him.

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(Ten weeks later)

Genma sat in down nervously as he waited for Mr.Akimono to meet up with him. After the euphoria of being alone and the hangover had worn off he had thought a bit more about what he'd done. He knew that it was rather fatuous of him to expect his son to be able to perform at the level that he'd be mistaken for the other boy. This is why he'd stay away from the school. He knows that if they can find him they'd kicked the boy out from the school, but as long as he couldn't be contact, they would have no choice but to look after his son.

Now, however, it was time for them to leave and here the hard part. The explanation.

"Good afternoon Mr. Yamatoshi. I have unpleasant news for you regarding your son, Kei." The man began in an anxious tone. "You see, Kei's mental capacity is vastly different from other students in other level let alone his own. It pains me to say this but the school's board had decided that it would be best for Kei to study at another institution."

Genma played the role of angered father and quickly took Ranma before leaving the school.

'In some way I understand why he's so mad' Mr. Akimono silently thought. 'Not many parents have trouble finding school for their child because he's too smart for his peer and his teacher to comprehend.'

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Nerima Present days.

Ninomiya Hinako was and still is well known for her uncanny ability to, ahem, deal with all kinds of students especially the more notorious ones. She's also famous for her ability to drain battle aura but everyone knows that. (Right?) What no one knows, however, is that her IQ is over 160. She passed competency test for over dozens languages and knows her quantum physics like she was teaching the subject herself.

Bottom line is that she's a genius with several Diplomas and Awards to prove it.

But some time even a genius can be struck dumb and today was one of those days. She looked at the sheet in front of her; it was one of her student's last two years records of his test.

The fact that is was filled with Ds and Cs was hardly surprising. What was surprising, however, is that it forms a pattern.

"Whaa?" She mumbled quietly, her tone practically screamed confusion. Half and hour ago she was berating herself for being paranoid when she tried to decode the puzzling pattern that she thought she saw. Now? Now she was slumped tiredly in her chair and sitting in front of her was a function. A two lines long function that dictates the results of all his tests.

'It can't be a coincident that kind of odds are crazy. No, it has to be planned, but how? The most logical thing would be thathewrote out that code and deliberately chose to almost fail all of his test.' She tried of reasoned it out in her head but eventually it became too much and she decided to speak out loud.

"But how could a teenager least of all HIM to create something like that? If I wasn't particularly bored I would've missed it entirely and I'm a trained cryptographer." She yelled the last part out in frustration, an act which would've scared off most of the male population. To bad really, because she was in her younger form at the time so all she accomplish was just sounding like particularly whiny kid.

"mm..." She said calmly while tapping her chin. She calm down and assumed a look that would've made a certain ice-queen proud. "All I can do now is wait until he finished playing games. If he's as smart as I think he is he'll comes out of hiding eventually, after all, no secret can be kept forever."

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Well folk, it's done.

How is it? Bad, Horrible, Pathetic?

Well I wanna hear your comments. Review please. (Author uses Puppy dog eyes technique which didn't really work because he's a guy.)

Thank you my pre-reader…. Wait I don't have one. Damn….

Anyway Thank you Materia's Blade,I gonna make this public, you see when you reviewed me and made a harsh but true comments regarding my work I was gonna turn around and says "Shut up and write your own if you're so good at it!" Then I read your profile and your works…. It blew me away.

"So be it" people read it yet? Well it's definately worth your time.


	2. Let the curtain fall

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Truth about wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of the blood-god, (NO, not Khorne from war hammer)

Chapter one, Let the curtain fall.

Disclaimer: Man... I always thought I'll able to come up with something creative for disclaimer but now... now I'm sick of it. Oh god... Anyway I don't own Ranma, there.

Author's note: Wow I didn't expect such an awesome response, anyway thank for all you reviewers out there.

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Saotome Ranma, the self-proclaimed epitome of manhood (for better explanation, refer to Saotome Nodoka's pamphlet entitled "Man amongst man") was sitting on top of the Tendo's roof, looking at the scene below.

Ordinarily, it would've been just the Tendo's backyard, but today it isn't. Today it's a stage. A very special stage for a very special performance. A performance of which months of preparations can either comes together in perfect synchronisation like a dozen parts symphony or falls apart like the poorly constructed house-of-cards.

Beep!

Ranma pulled out a cell phone-like instrument from his pocket. It was a RTL, Radio wave Triangulation Locator, his own invention. It works by detecting and comparing the strength of three separate radio waves being omitted. Two of these usually are local radio channels, the third however, come from a device which would be placed on the object or person you're trying to keep track of.

Due to the practicality and advantages it has over GPS system locally, patenting the RTL would've made the young martial artist rich enough to rival the Kuno, let alone marketing the machine himself.

For Ranma, however, it was just a little something to keep himself from being surprise by Ryoga's unusual (or usual) timing.

"Here he comes," the young man said to himself as he mentally ran over the plan in his mind. He fixed an arrogant and foolhardy grin on his face and hopped down.

"3…2…1..." The boy held his breath for a second before relaxing.

"That's weird; he should've been here by n…." He trailed off as his skin began to tingle.

BOOM!

He whipped his head around just in time to see chunks of broken fence flying toward him at high speed. He leaned to the side, dodging them lazily while faking a scowl.

"Don't ya know how to use the door pig boy?" He taunted loudly, hoping the noise would've alerted the other residences. It worked; Nabiki was on the balcony with her ever-present camera.

'Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought.' The teenager reconsidered.

"Shuddap! Ranma because of you, I've seen Mexico!" The lost boy yelled in fury.

'Mexico? Oh I see, it's June, mince chilli-making competition is on again.' Ranma thought.

"Whatever, I'm sick of you breaking stuff and me having to fix it P-Chan." He retorted with a hidden smile.

"Why you... PREPARE TO DIE!" And with the battle cry, Ryoga charged at him

Suddenly, a plan formed in his mind. Ranma reflexively dodged under the punch and jabbed the enraged boy's sternum. He parried the counter punch and seemingly disappeared only to appear again behind the lost boy an instant later.

Ranma snaked his arms under the other boy's guard and put him in a headlock.

The bandana-clad teenager struggled to overpower the shorter boy. Seeing the confusion on his so called rival's face, Ranma suddenly realizes his mistake.

'Kuso, I forgot I'm not supposed to be stronger than him.' The teenager mentally swore. 'Oh well, it's too late now, I hope at least my plan works.'

Ryoga struggled a bit more before his patience ran out, he jabbed his index finger into the ground and yelled.

BAKUSEI TENKETSU!

With a resounding boom, the two youth were sent flying off in two different directions. Because Anything Goes specialises in mid air combat, Ranma just reoriented himself, rebounded off a tree, and went right back into the battle. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that middle Tendo sister had retreated back into the house.

'Perfect, the resulting noise should've been enough to attract Akane,' he thought.

Being a powerful martial artist in his own right as well as having been taught the technique, Ryoga simply brace himself for the blast. He shook his head in to clear away some form of concussion from the raining rock, but was still lost in confusion.

What the hell happened to Ranma? Since when could he hold me in a headlock and walk away from the breaking point seemingly unaffected?

The lost boy shook his head again and rushed the pig-tailed boy once more.

Ranma saw the haymaker miles away, but he didn't dodge it as usual. Instead he poured a bit of his ki or what he discovered was actually the same as Kinetic energy, into his stomach to negate and shift some of the force of the punch, by doing so reducing the damage done of his body while increasing the distance which he flew back.

He calculated his trajectory and added a bit more ki to the blow, resulting in him being catapulted toward the door at high speed.

'Here goes nothing.' Ranma thought as he faked a look of surprise before turning around in midair...

... to crash head-first into the youngest Tendo. Landing sharply with his hands firmly plastered on her bosoms.

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Tendo Akane was dreaming about cute bunnies and other cute things cute girls dream about (Ack sorry folk, I couldn't stomach the thought myself.) when she was woken up by a loud noise. She rubbed her bleary eyes and climbed out of her bed. She craned her neck out the window to see Ranma and Ryoga trading bows furiously.

'That arrogant jerk, always picking on poor Ryoga.' She muttered angrily under her breath. She then proceeded to stomp downstairs into the living room and slammed the door open. What happen next didn't really register in the mind of the poor girl, (snort yeah right)

'I must be dreaming.' The thought resounded in her mind. She thought she saw Ranma laying on top of her with his hands on her...

The line of thought trailed off as her brain shut down and rebooted. She blinked repeatedly and looked up again. Yep, Ranma was still there and yep Ranma a boy. More precisely, Ranma was a boy with his hands on her ... there...

She mechanically got up from underneath Ranma, who was appearantly frozen by the turn of events. With a mask of robot-like stoicism adorning her face, she slowly turned to the pig-tailed boy who was staring at her blankly.

"...Ranma" she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. He leaned closer to her, the unspoken 'Yes?' plainly written on his face.

DIE YOU PERVERT!

She screamed and slugged him right in the face, sending the teenager flying towards the koi pond… correction, sending him flying towards a certain large rock in the koi pond.

Suddenly a sign of recognition flashed in her eyes. She felt her anger turn to fear as she understood the significance of that particular rock. It was the same one that made him believe he was a girl. Oh Kami-sama. She watched helplessly as his head hit the rock with a sickening thud, which followed by a soft "plop" when he, now she, fell into the water.

She rushed over to the redheaded unconscious body, her eyes filled with dread. She remembered that her big sister had mentioned that if Ranma shows the same symptoms again, the damage might be permanent.

"Come on Ranma, wake up. Please wake up." Akane cried and shook her. To her relief the girl open her eyes once more. She quickly remembered what happened last time and yelled in a panic stricken tone, "Ranma are you a boy or a girl?"

"Do I look like a boy to you?" Ranma said with an eyebrow raised.

Seeing that Akane's face was ashen with fright, the teenager continued, "Just joking Akane. Of course I'm a boy, and no, you didn't give me a cranial trauma this time."

And with that, the redhead walked over to the Ryoga.

"Ryoga, can we continue sparring another time? I'm really not into it today."

In response to this polite request, the lost boy who was looking very… lost… at the moment.

"S...sure Ranma," Ryoga stuttered in response, partly because Ranma just talked to him civilly but mostly because the Chinese-style t-shirt she wears was wet and clinging to her curves rather nicely.

Ranma then wrung out her clothes (the part that she can without taking them off) and walked into the house. As the redheaded girl disappeared into the Tendo home, the two teens realized something.

"Wait a minute, Cranial Trauma?" Both of them blurted the last two words out loud.

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"Kasumi, could you heat up some water for me please? I need to get ready for school." Ranma chimed out as she bound up stair to grab her school's things. When she came back down, she found that everyone was already seated at the table and her portion of the food was gone.

"Here you go Ranma-chan," Kasumi said and handed her a cup of hot water. Ranma gave her a grateful smile before turning to leave the room once more.

"Where are you going Ranma?" Akane asked, still unsure of what had happened earlier.

"I'm going to change in the bathroom, there's no point in getting my clothes wet again."

Akane nodded uncertainly. It makes sense but why didn't he do it before? The question nagged her. When Ranma returned, however, she just dismissed it and began to leave with him.

Nabiki stared at the pair as they leave. Her little sister had told her about what happened this morning, and frankly she began to believe her. On her way out she decided to ask Kasumi about it.

"I'm sorry Nabiki-chan, I didn't notice anything different about him this morning." The eldest of the Tendo sisters replied with an oblivious smile. Nabiki, whom just waved off her sister apology, began to make her way to Furinkan High.

When she was alone in the house once more, (Father and Uncle Genma didn't really count since nothing could take their minds away from their game of Go) she sighed as she allowed her facade of eternal tranquillity to drop and frown a little bit.

'It has begun,' she thought.

She often wondered why nobody asked how come she, the angel Kasumi, didn't interfere with those awful things Ranma has to endure. The answer was simple. It was because she had known for a long time now that he's letting these things happen to him on purpose. She frowned and berated herself for being jealous of Ranma.

She sighed once again, most would say it unlike her to be jealous but the truth is most didn't know the real her.

It's kind of sad but apart from Ranma, nobody really noticed that she's human too.

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How's that people?

I'm sorry but next chapter might be a bit late in coming, I'm so totally obsessed with Naruto fan fictions lately. Anyway review and I'll work faster. It's true, even though I don't update everyday, I always logs on once or twice to check hits and reviews and if there a lot, then I'll type up more.

Yay, I finally have a pre-reader. No more changing tense, no more weird sentences, no more... well you get the idea.

And this thanks to TreadWeaver, everyone clap.

I MEAN IT. Author yelled, while using Tendo's Demon head technique


	3. School day

EDITED VERSION

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Truth about wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of the blood-god, (NO, not Khorne from war hammer)

Chapter 2: School days.

Disclaimer: Owning Ranma, I do not. Truly, kidding not I. Property of Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma is. Nor own Yoda, do I.

Author's note: A words of warning boys and girl. This chapter will show Ranma to be really evil. Please keep in mind that I like Ranma and that I would never make him evil.

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Ranma was frowning while he was walking to school that morning. His plan wasn't working out the way he thought it would.

'What the hell is wrong with them, why aren't they noticing that I'm acting differently? Akane I can understand, she as blind as a bat but Nabiki? She should've been watching at me like a hawk by now.' The big tailed boy thought as he casually hopped over a broken section in the fence he was walking on.

The boy suddenly stopped and looked down at his feet. He mentally smacked himself in the head and jumped down.

'How could I've been so stupid, of course they wouldn't have noticed anything, I'm still acting like a martial art oriented and self-centered jock they know me to be.'

Ranma say that Akane was looking at him intently. He decided that now is the time to test for their reaction with the real him.

"It's rather rude to stare, don't you think so Miss. Tendo." he remarked coldly.

Akane seemed shocked for a second then the shock turned into rage. Here she was, worried at him and he just insulted her.

"How dare you insult me? To think that I was worried about you." The girl yelled before raising her fist threateningly.

Ranma, however, didn't act like he usually does. Instead of taunting the girl back, he simply lifted an eye-brow.

"That doesn't excuse you for being discourteous. Beside, if you hadn't hit me into that rock, I wouldn't need worrying in the first place." He replied curtly.

Now Akane was seething with anger, "Why you pervert, I ought to..."

"Ought to what Tendo?" He cut her off with a sharp retort. "Hit me? Now that's laughable." He gave a chuckle that doesn't contain a slightest hint of humor before continuing, "Do you really thing you can beat me?"

"I've killed a God, little girl. Ripped him apart with my bare hands, how do you think you will fair against me?" The boy said in a voice that carries a lot more venoms than most demons.

Akane, who was by now shaking in fear because of the malicious aura that was rolling off Ranma, (that's Killer's intent from Naruto ;) ) could only stutter. "...I..I..d.."

"Release her you foul sorcerer, you may terrorize my Akane no longer!" A figure carrying a bokken and a bouquet of rose called out to the pair.

Ranma looked around and found that they've reached the school gate. The school yard was filled with silence as the entire student body was starring at them in shock.

"Of course Kuno-sempai." said the pig-tailed martial artist. After pausing for a moment, he added as if it was an after thought, "Should I release the 'pig-tailed goddess as well?"

Kuno blinked repeatedly in confusion, first his opponent just complied with his wish as if it was a command and..." What about the pig-tailed goddess you uncouth beast?"

"Why? I thought you knew sempai." Ranma said, feinting surprise.

"Knew what?" Kuno asked flatly, his so-called noble speech slipped for a moment.

"That, I, the great and evil sorcerer have imprison your beautiful goddess and now hold her over a pit of vipers, deadly vipers. In fact, I can kill her right now with a simple flick of my wrist that would release her, sending her plunging to her death." the younger boy dramatically weaved tale with uncanny skill and mastery.

"What! I must go to her rescue." the bokken totting boy yelled and abruptly ran off despite the fact that he has no idea where the said 'goddess' is held captive.

Ranma chuckled evilly at the deluded boy's antics before a nasty grin appeared on his face as a plan formed in his mind. He bent over and picked up a rock from the ground. He hefted the rock a couple of times to judge it's weight before throwing it casually at Kuno. The boy was ranting on about his 'quest' when the rock struck him in the head, knocking him out almost immediately.

The whole school plus the teachers were now starring at them. Whispers which went something like, 'did Ranma just took out Kuno with one little rock?' echoed through the school yard.

Everyone could feel the tension that hung grimly in the air as a sense of epiphany hit them. Ranma, the I-am-an-honorable-martial-artist, just took advantage of Kuno's weakness and what more? He hit him when his back was turned!

RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

And there's the bell.

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"Saotome, you're late."

Ranma didn't even bat an eye lash. He knew the teacher was blowing hot air. Most of the students were late, in fact the man himself was probably late as well.

"And?" The teenager asked evenly after a short impromptu starring contest.

"Go and stand in the corridor, NOW." The teacher shouted.

The corner of the boy's mouth curved up into a grin. He bowed mockingly as he thanks the teacher. As he walked away he could feel the teacher's stare digging into his back.

"That's it, you will be in detention after school today, for your sarcasm."

Ranma turned around slowly and released his aura.

"It wasn't a sarcastic comment, 'sir." He spat out the last word in apparent disgust. "I was genuinely happy that you spare me the idiotic rumbling you call teaching."

"Why you insolent brat, I'll have you know that I graduate top 20 of my class from Tokyo University and I was awarded Mastery of General Science." He proclaimed with a triumphant smile.

His smile, however, was quick in disappearing as the boy started chuckling softly.

"I'm calling your bluff, 'teacher'." Ranma sneered. "The Mastery of General Science was awarded for continuous excellent achievements over 4years, therefore only one undergraduate student can earn it per year. That's quite a short list, old man, a list which I can look up pretty quickly." Seeing the man sweat, Ranma continued on mercilessly.

"Now, I believe we've run out of conversation material. Will you let me sleep in peace, or do I have to expose anymore of your incompetence?"

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Hinako was slightly nervous when she entered her classroom.

To be honest, she was quite... elated when she decoded Ranma's grade a couple of weeks ago. She found herself looking forward to the day when Ranma would reveal his true potential. She thought that it would be ...nice to have someone around her age around that understands her.

But now... now she's not so sure anymore.

The... incident that happened earlier today couple with various rumors she'd heard from the other staffs began to worry her.

While it was true that student with higher intellect often doesn't get on well with teachers, and she admits that she had driven more than her share of educators off, three in one day is still a still a record in anyone's book.

'There no used worrying about it now.' Hinako thought forlornly as she turned the handle and opened the door.

"Alright you delinquents, settle down." She yelled and walked over to her desk. She kept a weary eye on Ranma as she began her lecture on Elizabethan's language. More and more time passed and before she realizes, the period was half-way over.

'Phew,' Hinako mentally sighed. 'I was worried about nothing.'

Then IT happened. From what she'd heard from other teacher, Ranma pointed out their each and every one of their flaws and ridiculed them until they leave him alone. So she came prepared. Instead of improvising or make up questions on the spot, she planned almost everything. She quoted from traceable sources and made sure she get any fact wrong.

What he did, however, caught her by surprise. He slept.

The muscle around the girl twitched as she watched the sleeping boy's prone form slowly rose up and down as he snored loudly. Yep, sound asleep.

"RANMA, WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!" Hinako screamed which actually sounded like a squeal, because she was in her younger form. Throwing caution to the wind, she began stalking toward the pig-tailed boy who was blissfully unaware of his teacher's rage.

"HAPPO GO YEN SATSU!" The young teacher cried as she pointed her five yen coin at the boy. The familiar blue aura arose from Ranma's body and began to slowly move toward the coin Hinako was holding out.

Suddenly it stopped.

Hinako mouth hung opened as the sapphire aura began to turn grey. She tried to cancel her technique but it wasn't working. She could feel her body began to get tired as her aura began to get sucked through her coin.

"Heh heh heh, I can't believe you fell for that, Miss Hinako. I thought you're smart enough not to let anger take control, but obviously you're not." Ranma said evilly as he lifts his head from the desk.

'He was never asleep to begin with.' Hinako thought numbly. 'He planned it all along so he could get me to attack him. He knew he could get expels for attacking a teacher so he deliberately get me to attack him.'

She looked up at him with her paled face before mouthing a silent, 'why?'.

Ranma sneered at her confusion and explained, "How? That easy, you see ki, IS the same as, Kinetic energy, it moves from high concentration area to lower one. Your technique is simply osmosis on a grander scale. All I had to do was make my ki harder to absorb, thus making it seems like it has lower concentration. That how I reverse you technique."

Hinako shook her head as a sign for no, she didn't care about the technical side of what happened at the moment. Right now she wants to know why? Why a person who was as selfless and honorable as Ranma was doing this to her.

"n...n...nase?" She said weakly, almost all of her ki was gone.

"Why?" He said raising an eye brow. He leaned closer to her and whispered. "I can't have any of my old teachers mark my end of the year papers. I think you know why."

It was so obvious why didn't she see it, of course if he planned to completely ace the end of year's exam he can't let his old teachers mark them. They would be suspicious that someone of Ranma grade answers all the questions correctly. No, it has to be new teachers marking them.

As the bell rang, the other students began to leave. A lot of the students wanted to help Ms. Hinako out but they've learned from experience that it would be best for super power martial artist like Ranma and Hinako to work things out between themselves.

Seeing that the teenager wasn't going to stop her, Hinako slowly trudged to her desk and croaked out a 'happo five yen satsu' at her battle fish. To her surprise and despair it didn't work.

She turned around and with tears flowing freely from her eyes she cried out, "Fixed this please." But her student wasn't there anymore.

Alone, weakened and traumatized, Ninomiya Hinako wept softly to herself.

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Before you kill me, RANMA IS NOT EVIL, HIS ACTION WILL BE EXPLAIN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.

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(Author tricked you into reading empty lines so he can use the time to ran away)

MUAH HA HA, I'm EBIL, So EBIL it's misspell.

Read and review,

P.S. this chapter couldn't have been completed without my trusty pre-reader, TreadWeaver, CHEER


	4. Where's the damn explanation?

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Truth about wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of the blood-god, (NO, not Khorne from war hammer)

Chapter three, Where's the damned explanation?

Disclaimer: Author walked onto the stage hold a piece of paper.

"So I just read this right? No prob." He said.

"Ok, I do not own Ranma one half." He blinked, "Wait a second what are you on about of course I d..."

BANG!

"Arrhhhh, that hurt you've just shot me in the head. Why did you just shoot me in the head?"

Sweats drop and gunshots follow.

Author's note: …………Wow awesome response, here the next chapter and it 500 words plus, enjoy.

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Ranma was frowning when he walked to the Tendo's, something that he found himself doing more and more lately.

"Why am I frowning?" The boy asked himself softly. "I should be happy. I mean, my plan is working out quite well and I no longer have to pretend to be a misogynous macho jerk, but why am I not happy?"

**Because you're feeling guilty at what you did to Hinako.**

"Yeah right," Ranma snorted at the errant thought. "She shouldn't have fought me in the first place."

**Martial artists don't fight people who're weaker than them, that what bullies does.**

"…..she deserved it anyway." The knuckles on Ranma's clenching fist began to turn white.

**She deserves to die? Without her ki absorption technique she would be sickly and weak, she could die. Even in toughest of situations, martial artists don't kill. **

"….."

**Nor do they…**

In the mid of his reminiscing, Ranma felt his field of vision darkened slightly. 'Wait, darkened field of vision equals unknown object intruding.' The boy realized and instinctively hopped to the side, just in time to dodge a big, in fact make that super big, spatula.

"Stay still Ran-chan, this will only hurt for a second." A feminine looking boy who is in fact a girl yelled as she continued to swing her deadly utensil at the pig-tailed boy.

"Good afternoon Ucchan." Ranma said pleasantly, as if he wasn't dodging blows that could hospitalize lesser men. "Akane put you up to this didn't she?"

"Yes, she said that you are not thinking straight because she smashed you into a rock." Ukyou grunted as Ranma give her a light kick in the stomach. The cross-dressing cook quickly recovered and continued her onslaught once more.

"Not thinking straight Ucchan? I felt fine, in fact, I feel better than eve…." The Ranma stopped and flipped away just in time to dodge a thrown bonbori.

"_What do you think you're doing Xian Pu?_" The boy asked, in perfect Mandarin, between series of flips and rolls. Finishing his acrobatic performance, Ranma began walking toward the Amazon in a brisk pace.

"_Stand still Husband, the violence girl said that you're temporary insane because you slipped and hit yourself in the head."_ The purple haired girl explained as she pulled another pair of bonboris seemingly out of thin air and trying to hit the elusive boy with them.

"_Man, I knew she was spoil rotten, but I never thought she was self-deluded."_ Ranma muttered while sighing exaggeratingly.

"_What do you mean Husband?"_

"_I meant that…."_ Ranma's voice seemed like it trailed off as he disappeared.

Suddenly he reappeared in front of her! Without missing a beat, the teenage martial artist proceeded to weave through her defense like it wasn't there. He tapped the pressure points on her wrists, causing the two bonboris to fall from her now nerveless hands.

Before she could blink, Ranma has maneuvered her arms into a disarming, yet comfortable position, one which could be described as an intimate embrace.

To Xian Pu, it seemed like one moment she was holding two rounded metal maces and the next she was clinging on to her hunk of a husband and staring into his soulful blue eyes. So it was no surprise when she was most too flustered to realize what going on when the boy whispered, "_I'm fine sweetie," _in her ear.

Almost.

'_Wait a minute, Husband don't know how to speak Mandarin.'_

Coming out off her swoon, Xian Pu realized that she was seconds too late as the trademark smirk appeared on Ranma's face.

Before she knew it, she was airborne and flying toward flour bombs thrown by an enraged chief who was screaming something about 'hussy' and 'Amazon bimbo'.

Seeing that the girls were a bit 'tangled up', Ranma quietly slipped away, thinking that he has had enough excitement for one day.

Too bad really, because it was then that he ran into a certain semi-blind Amazon.

"_Oh, my beloved Xian Pu."_ The bespectacled boy cried as captured Ranma in a bone crunching tackle-glomp.

"_Let go of me Mu Tsu before I kick your pitiful behind into next week."_ The boy growled in perfect Mandarin.

"Wait, you're not Shampoo!' Mu Tsu exclaimed as he leapt away from the pig-tailed boy.

"Keen perception, you blind idiot." Ranma drawled irritably.

"How dare you impersonate my beloved Shampoo!" The Chinese boy yelled angrily as he flung a dozen of deadly projectiles at Ranma who was now slightly annoyed.

Ranma deflected the knives and chains with one hand while signalling a sign that said 'come and get me' with the other. (Think Neo, the Matrix)

As Mu Tsu came at him with his pathetic 'fist of white swan', Ranma smirked and simply leaned back to dodge the pitiful attack. He countered with a back fist to the boy's temple and followed it with a vicious crescent kick that sent the other boy reeling from the force of it.

'_Shit, Ranma must be really pissed off for him to hit me that hard.'_ Mu Tsu thought as he struggled to get up from the two hit combo. When he glanced at his nemesis's face however, he became confused. There was no anger, no fury just a look of mild irritation.

The boy peered at Ranma through his thick lenses before coming to a conclusion. '_That look…it seems like he is prepared to kill if nessesary…… he has finally became a warrior.'_

'_It looks like I also need to be ready to do what must be done.' _The boy thought he pulled out a hand grenade from his sleeve.

"FOR MY SHAMPOO, DIE RANMA!"

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When there's an explosion, people often run in two opposite directions.

This is because general public as we know it composed of two types of people. One of them is the sensible and level headed type, the type who knows better than to go running into an explosion because that would be completely senseless and moronic of them to do so, while the other… well… you know where I'm going with this.

Tendo Kasumi is, of course, a prime example of a sensible and level-headed type. So when she began walking toward the origin of the explosion, quite a lot of people tried to stop her, thinking that the poor oblivious girl was probably going to shop in that direction and completely dismissed the thought of potential harm walking that way could have.

This, of course, wasn't what was on the girl's mind at all. In fact she probably knew more of what was going on than most other people.

For instantly she knew who was at the center of all this.

Out from the miniature crater emerged a raven-haired boy dressed in a now scruffy-looking Chinese style T-shirt and black pants.

'Yep, it's Ranma-kun alright.' The Tendo girl thought with a mental giggle. 'No matter what the weather's like he always find himself knee-deep in a fight.'

A smiled appeared on her lips as she saw who Ranma was fighting. 'It's that Mouse boy again.' She knew Ranma always prefers to fight him more than Ryoga. Although Ranma had never told her, she was sure that he considered Ryoga as a friend.

Kasumi's smile lessened when she saw the expression on the pig-tailed boy's face. It was one of cold fury, an expression that she has never seen the boy used before.

"_Do you know that Japanese's citizens' right states that self-defense is not murder?" _The boy stated simply but the anger in his was didn't goes unnoticed by those in the area. "_I thought that after a year and a half of second chances you'd learn, but obviously you haven't_."

Kasumi felt like a cold breeze just swept across the market area. She didn't know what Ranma has said to the boy in Chinese but she knew it couldn't be pleasant.

"_For assault with intention of murder on first degree, prepare to die Mu Tsu_." Ranma said in a voice that promises pain, lots of pain.

With that Ranma settled into an unfamiliar stance and began to glow bright red. Suddenly, two balls of flames sprang to life on the boy's opened palms.

!FUSHICHOU NENSHOU RENDAN! (Burning Phoenix Combo)

Mu Tsu's eyes widened but that was as far as he got since a split second after those words resounded across the street, Ranma disappeared and reappeared in front of him. The pig-tailed martial artist thrust the burning orb into the ground beneath their feet. It exploded with ferocious blast of heats and forces. An unparallel sensation of being burned alive engulfed the Chinese boy before he was flung into the air.

The cool Nerima's air relieved Mu Tsu of his burns for a moment then the pain returned. This time in the form of punches and kicks that singed like napalm. He tried to put up some form of defense but it was futile. Because not only is his skill in mid-air combat was nothing compared to the Saotome's but the searing heat from the other boy's aura makes his attacks too painful to even block.

The most painful seconds of his life (Physical pain, of course, the actually most painful moment of his life was when Xian Pu floored him with one kick and declared him the loser of his marriage challenge. He was five at the time.) ended when the threw the single remaining red ball of flame into his gut and sent him shooting downwards at high speed.

Luckily he fell unconscious upon impact, because although it wasn't 'Ranma-like', the pig tailed youth wouldn't have hesitated to kick him when he's down.

"And stay down you obsessed fool." Ranma muttered at the unmoving boy. With that the boy turned to see the only person he wished hadn't seen what he did.

"………………" An uncomfortable air of silence hung grimly over.

"Ranma-kun…" Kasumi finally whispered, a worried frown etched on her lips.

Ranma didn't know what to say. He could come up with a thousand believable stories to feed to anyone but …this was Kasumi. She's…different. He couldn't lie to her, not something like this and explaining it…. explaining it would have been a thousand times worse.

He stared at her helplessly, translucent tears forming in his eyes.

"I…I'm sorry." The boy managed before leaping away.

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Ranma was sitting under a bridge over a small canal. He stared down into the water, not really seeing anything. Soon his concentration wavered and he thrown a pebble in to disrupt the water, so he couldn't see his reflection.

Right then, 'narcissism' was one of his most hated words.

Eventually he ran out of pebbles and he began to use his ki to make disrupt the smooth surface that was the canal.

Not long after that, the boy could feel the effect of transferring so much energy. Instead of stopping, he clenched his fists and forced himself to go on.

"Ranma-kun…." A voice called out.

At the sound of his name being called, the said boy exhaustion finally caught up to him. He fell to his knees but he tensed his muscles, refusing to fall any further.

"Ranma-kun! Are you ok?" The same voice cried out. Ranma used his remaining strength to turn around. It was Kasumi.

"Are you ok?" The older girl repeated again as she offers him a hand to help him up.

Ranma ignored the pre-offered hand and slowly rose up by himself.

"Why do you ask, Kasumi? You don't care about me, you never did." He said in a cold voice.

"That not tru…" The girl began but she was cut off.

"Don't start Kasumi, if you care why did you always let THEM do those things to me? Why haven't you lifted a finger to help?"

"Because I knew you allowed those things to happen to you. Because I knew, all along, that you're not a martial arts centered fool but an intelligent person who was only staying at our house to complete a plan of his own that doesn't have anything to do with marrying one of us." Kasumi stated with a slight edge in her tone.

The pig-tailed boy stared at her numbly. She knew?

"Yes, Ranma, I knew of your plan to stop your father from adding more fiancés to your growing list, of your plan to slowly turn away the existing and to clear the debt of your name. All this, while freeloading off us."

"You knew…." Ranma whispered weakly, tears began to form in his eyes.

"If you knew then why… why did you let me stay?" He asked.

"Because you've changed Ranma, whether you knew it or not, you're no longer a cold and calculating teenage prodigy who is vindictive, resenting the world because of what his father has done to him." Kasumi said, tears began to form in her eyes as well. She slowly embraced him and lets their tears fell into each other shoulder.

"You may not be the heroic and fool hardy martial artist you pretended to be but you a good person, Ranma." 'A person I may've fallen in love with.' Kasumi mentally added.

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I know what you're thinking folks, Ranma/Kasumi right? Maybe not.

Keep in mind that Kasumi was only thinking it and Ranma has no idea what she thinking. Moreover, Kasumi is not the type to go crazy and dote on him just because of this.

Beside, it won't be the first time the poor girl's feeling has gone unnoticed.

SO don't jump to conclusion, nothing will happen yet, Kasumi won't do anything rash and Ranma won't start kissing her or anything.

I claimed the ownership of Fushichou Nenchou Rendan. Yes that's right I've created it, the real combo actually start with a feint right hook a left jab, then a rising crescent kick an in-step kick, right elbow thenit finish withthe 'almighty'jumping side kick. All in all I reckon it's pretty good, and then I tried it on my brother… it didn't work. He leant back, dodge my feint and my jab the he punched me in the nose. I felt like an idiot.

Okay, good news and a bad news. First of I have exam next week so I probably won't be updating next chapter for another 2 weeks but we'll see.

Good news, I have a new fan fiction. It's called Silence of leaves, it's a Naruto one so all you Naruto's fan, check it out.

THANK YOU MY PRE-READER, TREADWEAVER-SAN, YOUR HELP IS...IS... SOMETHING VERY VERY IMPORTANT.

Review please, Ja ne.


	5. No heart warming stories

Tis edited by a man of paramount pride and honour, Sir Tread of Weaver county!

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Truth About Wisdom, by Krimzonrayne The Avatar of the blood-god.

Chapter 4: No heart-warming stories.

Disclaimer: A young man dressed in an old towel, which was fashioned in such a way that it gave him the appearance of wearing a cloak. This and the fake beard that will cause him a lot of pain when removed later makes him look like a wizen old man.

"Gather around children, gather around," The young man said, gesturing grandly to the collections of dolls and plushies which he stole from his sister and are now scattered in front of him.

"Today's story shall be about the tragic tale of..." the speaker stopped and began drumming his hands on the wall behind him. "...the disclaimer."

"Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, lives an entity which we all called Disclaimer. At the beginning Disclaimer was respected and feared as he/she/it was the avatar of L-sama (three guesses what the L means) and was able to bring forth the power of Suing to anyone who dare mock him."

"But it wasn't that simple. Although being respected and feared was nice and all, it began affecting his social life and soon the disclaimer became extremely lonely."

"So it was that much of a surprise when Disclaimer stop S-ing people for making fun of him. 'It was all fun and game.' The disclaimer insisted. Ah... the beauty of famous last words."

"It began slowly at first as people still fear the fearsome might of L-sama. But swiftly like forest fires it spreads..." Calmly with masterful control of his voice, the teenager continued his tale. "...and soon, what has begun as mere jokes has elevated to every form of abuse imaginable."

"Realizing the error of his way, our unfortunate avatar tried to change the attitude of those around him. Alas it was too late, and what once was respected and feared is now shunned and ridiculed. And that conclude our sorrowful tale. Now children what have we learned today?"

"Not to make fun of disclaimers and to actually respect them?" A high-pitched voice, which obviously suppose to represent one of the dolls asked.

"WRONG!" The teenager yelled, standing up and throwing off his towelish-cloak. "Tis that disclaimer can actually be pretty dangerous so when we make fun of them we must actually say the disclaimer. Like so, I DON'T OWN RANMA 1/2. See? That wasn't too hard now was it?"

Author's note: Finally got this chapter out huh? Yeah I guess I've been seriously lazy. However, that was not the only problem that I had in putting up this chapter. The other problem is that I've gone back and read the last two chapters and found that it was utterly depressing. I was like 'WTF', why did I write such garbage and then I looked at a few pages I've drafted out and saw what the hell? this is kinda sad as well. Where's the humor?

And so I've gone back and revised the whole thing, took me a while but I hope it's better.

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The wind was starting to pick up when Ranma slowly parted from Kasumi's embrace. He wiped away the remaining drying tears on his face before smiling fondly at the oldest Tendo sister.

Seeing the water stains on the girl's kimono, Ranma quickly apologized, "I'm sorry for going to pieces on you like that Kasumi-chan..." The boy was going to continue but noticed that he has lost his audience. Said audience has a blank look on her face as she was lost in her fantasy. A fantasy conjured up on what the suffix 'chan' could mean.

Seeing that his apology was unnecessary, the pig-tailed boy decided to continue, hoping to bring the girl out of her trance like state. "Eh...thank you for that Kasumi-chan, I really needed that." This, however, proved to be useless as the repeat of the word 'chan' only cause the said girl to start blushing and giggling.

"Kasumi-chan?" Ranma said, a warhead-sized sweat drop appearing on his head.

After having her name called out three times, Kasumi finally noticed where she was and who she was with. The girl squealed out a loud 'oh my' before she started to smacking herself on the head while mentally chanting 'Bad Kasumi! Bad Kasumi!' Then suddenly it hit (ha ha it's a pun) her, 'what the hell am I doing?'

Ranma just stared incredulously as the girl visibly stopped herself from smacking herself further while muttering something, which sounded suspiciously like "Stupid Harry Potter and that damnable house-elf."

Ranma decided to keep his silence but multiple sweat drops formed on his head. He faked a cough to get the older girl's attention. It was fortunate that it worked because Ranma wasn't sure what he would do if it didn't.

"Mm... Kasumi-chan," Ranma paused as the said girl once again cutely blushed. He faked another cough before continuing. "Eh... How did you find out about me? My plan and the other stuff I mean."

"Oh I hope you don't think badly of me for this but the day after you came, I did a little background on you and your father. I sorry I haven't asked for your permission first but can you blame me? I mean 'a sex-changing boy and his father who turns into a panda'?" Kasumi, who glad for change in subject, truthfully answered.

"There wasn't a lot I could find so I just kept it in the back of my mind. It wasn't until Ms. Hinako came..."

"Ms. Hinako, Oh KUSO!" Ranma suddenly shouted out, a panicky frown appeared on his face. Kasumi was going to ask him what's wrong but before she knew what happened she was floating in cloud nine, courtesy of a kiss to the cheek by a certain pig-tailed martial artist.

"Thank for so much for everything Kasumi-chan, but I really need to go, I'll explain everything later," Ranma said as he leaned back from Kasumi's comforting warmth. The boy yelled out a cheerful 'Ja ne' before sprinting off, leaving the poor, dazed girl to make her way home alone...

(The author sweat drops as Kasumi just hugged herself while giggling like mad.)

"..Eh ...make her way home alone?" The author suggested again only to be ignored by the blissfully happy girl. "Oh well I guess it's time for plan B," The author mumbled out while switching on a mega-phone with his right hand.

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In contrast to popular belief, Ninomiya Hinako isn't an immortal chi-vampire who had live for decades by using the energy she siphoned off others to keep her young and beautiful. In truth she's actually only seventeen years old. Confused? Let me explain.

You see, at the tender young age of nine our beloved Miss Hinako was nothing like the person she is today, she was a frail and sickly girl. A girl which suffers from a disease called Osmocondria. A disease so rare that if you were to go look it up on the internet now you wouldn't find it.

While the affect of this particular illness can be described in multiple pages-length essays, the symptom is basically this; it stop the body's from absorbing nutrient from digested food. To put it simply, unless she is on life support and IV drips she will die. Being so rare a disease there was and still is no cure for it.

So when her parents die and her trust fund ran out, it wasn't a surprise that the medical board was going to pull the plug. Luckily for her a certain pervert had displayed a rare moment of kindness and gave her the ability to harvest energy she needed via a Chi-absorbing technique.

From then on she thought her life could only gets better, it didn't. At first she thought she could finally takes control of her own life with an adult body and her level of intelligence.

Looking back now she would've laughed at how naive she was. Sure they let her study all she wants, but what is the point of having dozens of diplomas when you couldn't get a job? Who would let a ten year old work as a physicist, let alone operates a sub-atomic particle manipulator?

That was seven years ago. And now...and now... she's right back where she's started, in a body of a sickly and frail little girl.

'I was so stupid back then' Hinako said with a small smile. The girl took a glance at the juvenile body before continuing bitterly. "Just like I am now." As soon as the last word comes out her tears began to run freely. She raised her arm and wiped at her teary eyes angrily.

"How could I've been so stupid? Why did I trust him?" Hinako cried out weakly. She slowly stood up from the floor of her classroom and looked around. It was almost dark now and the school seemeddeserted. She left the classroom and slowly trudged down the stair, wincing with every step. She painstakingly made her way to the school lab and let herself in using the staffs' key. She lit a Bunsen burner and began mixing solution with well-practiced precision. It was a simple glucose solution. A shot of it would give her a sugar-induce high. While the energy she received from it gets burnt away really quickly, she didn't have much of a choice at the moment.

It was either sugar-high for an hour or a coma.

She carefully emptied her mixture into the boiling water and stirred every couple of seconds. The girl gritted her teeth and lifted the beaker from the tri-pod using a pair of thongs.

It was getting harder and harder to move around or lift anything now. She wearily searched the room for the first aid kit. Suddenly her vision began to tunnel. She recognized the tell-tale sign, she was losing her consciousness!

'No!' Hinako mentally yelled as she desperately bit into her lip, hoping the pain would keep her awake. 'I won't let it end this way.'

With newfound courage, she began looking around room once more only to have her hope crushed. It was like the gods are laughing at her. There it was, the familiar bright red box...on the top shelf, just out of her nine years old body's reach.

"No!" The teenager in body of a nine year old tried to yell, but it came out like a quiet whimper.

Just as she was about to give up Hinako saw something in the rubbish bin next to her. It was a half-smoked cigarette. Resisting her educator's urge to rant about danger of cigarettes in a room full of chemicals, Hinako picked it up and re-lit it on the Bunsen burner. She took an experimental puff and started coughing. She drew two more draught of the disgusting stuff before putting it out in the nearby tap.

Hinako has tried tobacco roughly two years ago and had sworn not to ever touch it again, but as much as she hates smoking, the nicotine from it had already caused the desired effect in keeping her awake.

With her new boost of energy, the girl quickly formulated a plan and began working. Slowly, table on table, chairs on chairs and within minutes, what seemed like an impossible was done.

The young teacher looked upon her makeshift ladder with a profound sense of pride. She allowed herself a small smile before she started making her way up the table-chair ladder. The girl cringed every time the ladder shifts and sways but she hung on grimly, knowing that she didn't have the energy to rebuild the ladder if she were to fall off and bring it down with her.

Hinako let out a huge sigh of relief as she pulled herself up onto the shelf's top. She opened the red first-aid box with an audible snap and grinned triumphantly as she fished out an old but definitely useable syringe. Climbing down was a little harder than she'd expected but the girl accomplished it fairly quickly. Then again, she was well motivated.

Finally with her tiny feet firmly on the ground, the girl allowed herself a triumphant grin before finishing the last part of her plan. She quickly sucked up 2cc of the glucose solution and tapping along her tiny arm for a point of injection. After finding one, she sat the tip of the needle against her flesh and braced herself for the sugar rush.

"NOOOOOO!"

Hinako snapped her head to the right just in time a see a red blur heading towards her. The girl tried to say something but IT was just too fast and in a flash she found herself looking into her blue eyed delinquent-genius student. They held a look of profound sadness in them.

"I can't let you do that" The pigtailed boy whispered softly as he crushed the syringe in his hand.

"Damn you Saotome, you heartless bastard. Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?" Hinako screamed at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

Ranma virtually flinched at her words before steeling himself. "I see. Well I'm here to finish what I've started this afternoon and therefore there's no need for you to do what you were doing a moment ago."

'Finish what he started! Oh no I don't want to die' the little teacher mentally cried and started backing away from the advancing martial artist.

"Please, Hinako. It'll be quick and painless." The dark haired boy urged almost softly.

"No, please don't. I promise I won't tell anyone about your plan, just don't kill me!" Hinako pleaded while starring into the boy's eyes. She waited an instant for his reaction to shine through, be it disgust at her for begging for her life or mercy or amusement, an emotion that is often found in heartless killer or... confusion?

Why would he feel confusion?

"WHAT?" Ranma yelled out in complete shock. "What makes you think I want to kill you? Especially since I just stopped you from killing yourself?"

"Killing myself? What are you talking about?" The young educator yelled right back, her fear momentarily forgotten.

"You mean you weren't injecting yourself a lethal dose of toxin because you lost your ability to absorb ki?" Ranma asked, pointing at the container full of concentrated Potassium solution lying on the table beside them.

"..."

"...Ranma no baka, ne?" The Anything Goes heir mumbled out while shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

"...he he he muaha ha ha"

Ranma was staring incredulously at his cackling teacher when he suddenly realized just how ridiculous the situation was and thus started laughing along with her.

'Oh man. What a relief.' Hinako thought as she leant against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. She felt light headed, probably from the near death trauma thingy.

'I feel so tired, I better lie down.' Was the girl's last thought as she close her eyes' lids and promptly fell unconscious.

"Oh crap!" The pig tailed cried as he rush to the girl's prone form. "Come on Hinako-chan, wake up."

Ranma continued to shook her gently as he checked to body for any sign of injury. Finding no visible wounds he extended his ki sense and scanned the girl.

"Her ki is extremely low, almost as if she's dying," The boy voiced his thought out loud. "Ok so that tells me what's wrong with her, but it doesn't tell me how to fix it."

"Come on think!" He yelled at himself in frustration as his eyes darted about the small room, trying to find a solution.

"A solution! That's it!" The teenager shouted out loud. He jumped to his feet and sprint to the lab bench Hinako was working on. Next to the Bunsen burner was a beaker filled with an unnamed solution. It was still warm.

Throwing caution to the wind, Ranma dipped his finger into the beaker and put some in his mouth to identify what is it.

"Sweet, slightly viscous and sweet. It got to be glucose so she was injecting herself glucose because… she was running out of energy!"

The teenage martial art and academic prodigy leapt to the young girl. He held both his hand over her head and muttered, "Here goes nothing."

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Well guys what do you think? I know it has been a long time since I've update but please don't hold that against me and review.

Remember the more the response the more motivated I become.

P.S. I got a new story, Matrixes of happiness, It's a Naruto fanfic.


	6. It begins with a poem!

Proof-read by Tread Weaver-san, my trusty editor,

To anyone who's curious, the blind mice who can't speak English got fired. He was caught sneaking cheese in for a snack and in the process, stank out my living room.

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Truth about Wisdom by Krimzonrayne, The Avatar of Blood-god

Chapter 5: It begins with a Poem?

Disclaimer: Due to too many complains about the disclaimer (i.e. I do not own Ranma one half) being too long and tedious as well as a waste of space, the disclaimer for this chapter has been removed. For alternate disclaimer press 1 (the back button to view the previous one), for customers' service press 2 (The review button). If you do not understand English press 4. Press # to repeat the massage (typo intended). Thank you for calling, your input matters to us and we wish you a pleasant day.

You can press 3 if you want to, it just doesn't do anything. Oh yeah! **"FISH**" and pass it on,

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"Oh hasten thy plea

For where mercy come swiftly

As falling rains

For where vengeance come swiftly

As seasons turn

Only exist in our dreams."

A mysterious sounding poem which I wrote, it may have nothing to do with the story at all and I just put it there to annoy you or it maybe an important plot device which fore shadow a really important twist in the future. Kinda like that mysterious code Ranma wrote in the prologue really, so you can.

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Tendo Nabiki was worried. Of course this is nothing new, in fact the so-called ice queen of Furinkan probably worried a lot more than most people her age.

The source of her worry, however, was a rare one. It was Kasumi, or more precisely, the location of Kasumi.

"Hello, I'm Tendo Kasumi's sister, Nabiki. I'm wondering if you happen to know where she is. No? Ok, thank you Mrs.Takeda." The girl put the phone down and sighed as she crossed off another name from the list in front of her.

'Damn you Saotome, Why did you have to crack? Why now? Why Kasumi?' The self-appointed mercenary of Tendo household mentally shouted. She looked at her clenching fist and slowly forced it to relax.

'Calm down Nabiki, anger makes people do stupid things, and you can't afford that right now.'

RINNGGG!

Nabiki snatched the phone up before it could finish the tone and pressed it against her ear, her hand shook with anxiety.

"Good afternoon, Tendo Nabiki speaking."

"Afternoon, boss. Someone said he saw your sister approach the Yamanote line's bridge not long ago."

"Thank Reika, expect some bonuses as well as your normal cut by the end of the week."

The young girl called Reika blinked twice and stammered a soft 'domo arigatou' before hanging up. 'Wow, she must be really shook up, Tendo Nabiki, NEVER gives bonuses'.

On the other side of the line, the phone never made it back to the receiver as a certain Tendo left the house in due haste. The poor phone was abandoned to bounce ever so slowly up and down the cord as it hung over the counter.

Slowly the conical swing began to slow down and just as it was about to stop, a slender hand grabbed it and brought it back up to the receiver.

The tall girl stared at the billowing cloud of dust kicked up by the middle Tendo girl and muttered softly to herself, 'What was that about? I've never seen Nabiki in such a hurry before. Her musing was cut short as her roaming eyes came to rest upon the clock on the kitchen's wall.

"Oh my, I better get started on dinner right away!" Kasumi Tendo exclaimed with her usual 'ara' beginning. As the girl began putting away the things she bought, a faint hint of a smile could be seen on her lips.

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Running across town in matters of minutes sounds like something out of an action film (or animes) to a normal person, but your average Neriman are anything but normal. But even they still gape as the infamous Ice Queen of Furinkan rushed past them in a blink of an eye. While it's perfectly normal for them to have seen a decent martial artist (not morally you dolt, otherwise Shampoo wouldn't be in this list) blow by them at sub-sonic speed, Tendo Nabiki wasn't a martial artist by any stretch of imagination.

"Did Jone just see what Jone think Jone just see?" A blond haired tourist gasped as he tried to pick up his fallen jaw.

"Yes, and learn how to speak Japanese properly you damn Gaijin, you sound just like Shampoo...but in a bad way...because you are a guy...if you know what I mean."

A lone tumble weed that was rolling along in peaceful existence got caught up in a sonic boom got ripped to shreds. Poor tumble weed.

"Oh well, I guess being Tendo Akane's older sister does count for something after all," A random person said out loud.

Another random pedestrian mumbled something which sound suspiciously like, 'I wonder if Kasumi can do it too?' and was promptly dog-piled by a group of angry shop-keepers screaming, 'How dare you? Don't you compare our pure-as-driven-snow Kasumi to her crazy sisters!'

Yep, it's your ordinary day in Nerima.

One of the aforementioned crazy sisters was sprinting down the road like she was the female version of Happosai being chased by a mob of angry, naked teenage boys screaming for their underwear back…

That's…eh… let's just say, she was running very, very fast.

And as she ran, the middle Tendo sister was trying (and failing) to keep the worry from her mind.

'It's all right, calm down. It's only been an hour since she'd gone missing. I mean one hour, surely Ranma couldn't have done anything, right?' Nabiki mentally argued against herself, but it was no use.

'But what if he did? If Kasumi's hurt then... then...' She almost sobbed. While she knew no one would blame her, she'd blame herself. While she could say that she didn't know Ranma was going to go crazy and kill everyone, it was still her fault for pushing him. While she could argue that she was far from the only person who was making his life miserable, it still was wrong for her to do what she did.

'And now her family is paying for her crime', the thought echoed in her mind as an image of a chibi-fied Kasumi with her feet cemented together, drowning, popped up in her mind.

"Ahhh, Kasumi-oneechan I'm coming!" The ice-queen screamed as she began to run harder.

Upon arriving at the bridge, she stopped with an anime-like special effects, leaving a huge trench in the ground. The girl jumped from the 4 feet wide path she just dug and scampered off to find her older sister.

After having zipped here and there with her adrenaline-induced power, Nabiki slowed down and began to pace in circles idly. She brought up her hand and counted down the places she'd searched.

I've checked there, and there and there. I've been everywhere" the girl yelled in frustration. She let her face fall down dejectedly, lowering her gaze to the river. As she stared into its muddy depths, her earlier fear came back ten-fold.

"No No No No!" Nabiki chanted in dismay.

The girl looked left and right before starting to remove her clothes. She was down to her underwear when she frowned and stopped.

'I'm being silly...' Nabiki rationalized 'I mean, even if he DID drown her, then there no point in me going down there right?'

_Chibi-Kasumi with cemented feet drowning..._

'I mean it's not like...'

_Chibi-Kasumi with cemented feet drowning..._

'Alright, Alright I'm going.'

_Chibi..._

'I said I'm going!'

Nabiki removed the rest off her clothing and was entering the water when she thought she heard something.

"Who's there?" she yelled while trying to shield her nakedness with her hands. She glanced left and right frantically but no one was there. 'What if it's Ranma? What if he was waiting for someone to come after Kasumi, oh no I've walked right into his trap!'

The tension continues to build until it was broken by an inhumanely horrible sound, a sound so awful that even banshees themselves would find it hard to compete.

**"Opss I did it again, I played with…"**

Nabiki stared at her pants, which were laying on the ground, emitting a very annoying tune, a huge sweat drop decorating her head. She slowly approached her bundle of clothing and extracted her cell-phone with the same about of caution as one would treat radioactive material or Akane's cooking. (I.e. with extreme care if avoidance is not an option)

Holding it as far away from her ears as possible, the self-proclaimed mercenary pressed the receive button and shouted at her phone as if it's going to bite her, "WHO IS IT?"

"Hello Nabiki-chan, it's Kasumi speaking. I'm wondering if you are going to be home for dinner tonight, I was trying to ask you earlier but you seemed like you were in a hurry"

Her sister's voice droned on but the rest was lost to Nabiki as she was overcome with relief. She quickly pulled the cell phone close to her ear and spoke into it. "Kasumi, you are ok!"

"Of course I'm Okay. Why shouldn't I be, Nabiki-chan?" Still giddy with excitement from her talk with Ranma-kun earlier, the Eldest of the Tendo sisters continued on playfully, "And why did you sound so surprised? You haven't arranged some 'tragic accident' to befall your dear sister, have you?"

Luckily for Kasumi, her momentary foray from her usual behavior had gone unnoticed by her younger sister as she was still feeling guilty from what could've happened earlier.

"Of course not onee-chan. I was just worried about you, my lacki… I mean my friends told me that you were with Ranma earlier and he has been acting strangely all day." Nabiki hoped her sister didn't catch the slip and the anxiety in her voice as she was talking about Ranma. Not that it was her fault because 'strangely' hardly covered what Ranma did today. Him displaying any sign of maturity was enough to freeze hell over, but he also outsmarted every single one of his teachers to the point where they all quit!

"Oh Ranma-kun… well when I was talking to him earlier, he seems quite normal to me," The older girl replied smoothly, she knew she wasn't smart enough to pull anything on Ranma, but her sister on the other hand, this she'd practiced.

"Oh…" Nabiki mumbled intelligently. She'd hoped Kasumi would've noticed something but obviously her sister was as clueless as ever. "Mmm… if you say so Kasumi, but I'm still worried about him though. Um, do you happen to know where he was headed after you saw him?" She tried to sound as innocent as possible…

Which of course, she failed unceremoniously. But knowing that her sister was lying wasn't enough for Kasumi. If she wanted to help Ranma, she must be able to dodge the question without blowing the lid on her act as well. Little beads of sweat comically began to form on Kasumi's normally cheerful face as she tried to come up with something.

'Come on think Kasumi, think. Where would be the last place Ranma would go to? Ah, I know!' "Oh Ranma-kun said he was going to an arcade in Shinjuku with his friends. I believe it was Daisuke and Hiroshi."

"But Kasumi, there are like hundreds arcades in Shinjuku?" Nabiki whined (whine? WHINE? TENDO NABIKI DOES NOT WHINE YOU MISERIBLE EXCUSE FOR A WRITER!) at the prospect of having to search them all.

(The editor would like to take a second to point out to Ms. Tendo that she is still without clothing and has no right to be quarreling with the author about anything if she wants them back.) "EEEP!"

"I'm really sorry Nabiki-chan, but he didn't mention which one he was going to."

"Humph, oh alright I guess it couldn't be helped, goodbye Kasumi-oneechan," Nabiki chimed before pulling the cell phone away from her ear. She was about to press the red 'hang up' button when her sister cried out.

"Wait Nabiki-chan!"

"Yes?" Nabiki asked a little worriedly after detecting the urgency in her sister's voice.

"You still haven't told me whether you will be having dinner with us or not!" Kasumi said in all seriousness.

Till this day, Nabiki still prays every night that no one was watching, because face-faulting while not wearing a stitch of cloth makes a wonderful photo opportunity.

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Thirty minutes later, one Tendo Nabiki, plus clothing, minus an embarrassing ring tone, (she deleted it so quickly that the buttons on her cell phone were steaming) was strolling up and down the main road that passes through the center of Shinjuku ward. Every once in a while she hopped into a random game arcade and looked around for a certain pig-tailed boy. So far her search had proved to be nothing but a wide goose chase.

That is, of course, to be expected, since our favorite martial artist was busy helping his teacher-tuned-little girl. Therefore it would be impossible for Nabiki to find him in any arcade wayyyy over in Shinjuku right? Well, Kasumi thought so.

"Damn it" Nabiki growled in frustration, "Another one and still nothing." The girl glanced ahead and counted how many more she had to go. She was so engrossed in her counting that she almost didn't notice where she was going. When she focused her eyes on her path again she was inches away from running into a petite redhead talking cheerfully with another girl their age. She reflexively tried to slow down but it was too late and an instant later they bumped into each other and were sent sprawling toward concrete. It was only the shorter girl's lightning fast reflex that saved them from a painful trip. Before Nabiki knew what happened, she was enveloped in a bear hug and was spun around until they both were back upright again. After she was released, the taller girl blinked dazedly before mumbling a soft thank you. The redhead stared at the ground as she gave a quiet 'nan demonai ne' (it was nothing) before running off, leaving her friend to try to catch up with her. Nabiki stared after the quickly disappearing girls with a confused look on her face.

'What did I do? She didn't seem like a shy person, not with her hair dyed bright red like that.' The Tendo girl thought. 'Wait a minute, a redhead?'

Nabiki jumped up and, as she'd hoped, saw the familiar sight of a bouncing red pigtail amid the sea of people on the crowded walkway. She began to gently and sometime not so gently force her way through the crowd. But it was futile and moments later, the pair was gone.

'Damn it I'm not going to find her like this,' She thought angrily as she declined another sale-girl's flyer. 'This is so annoying, I felt like yelling at them but they're only doing their job… and they're so God damn polite it's frustrating!'

Nabiki ran for about another meter before her path was filled with foot traffic again.

'Ah there has to be a better way!' The girl thought as she was blocked off again. And to her building frustration another sale-girl, this one fully decked out in a maid costume bowed to her before handing over a slip of paper with disgustingly cute pink writing on it. Nabiki spared it a glance before throwing it away…

… only to halt herself a second later, eyes widened to the size of silver platters. She turned around and made a lunge for the flyer she'd just thrown away.

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At the nearby park, two girls came to a stop at a bench. One of them dropped to the seat, looking flush and was panting while the other began to look around cheerfully.

"What's going on –huh- Ranma-kun, -huh- why did you –huh- run off like that?" The breathless girl managed between large gulps of air.

"That girl I ran into back there? That was Akane's sister, Nabiki." Ranma-chan answered without stopping her search.

"Tendo Nabiki!"

"...Yeah, if anyone has the slightest chance of figuring my plan out, it's her."

"…."

"…."

The taller girl had to break the uncomfortable silence that had developed. "So, why did you come here? Apart from getting away from her I mean."

"Well…you see…" The red head began to fiddle her fingers while trying to decide on what to say. She finally gave up and pulled out a slip of paper before handing it to the girl on the bench.

"What's this? 'Café La Blanc's opening day, FREE ICE-CREAM SAMPLE!" Ranma's companion finished with a yell before shaking her head at the shorter girl. "Ranma!"

"Oh come on, I can't help it if I have a sweet tooth," The red head said with a pout.

"Of course Ranma, just like you can't help it if I use it to my advantage." A voice commented merrily from behind the pair. Before Ranma could pick up the other girl and ran away again, Nabiki quickly pressed on. "So Ranma, who is she?"

The pig-tailed stared at the older girl calmly before answering back defiantly, "Why do I have to tell you anything?"

"Because I'll make your life hell if you don't. Besides why does it matter if she's another one of your fiancées or just a friend? It's going to come out sooner or later." You don't need this 'said' tag. We can infer who's talking, especially since Hinako is brown haired too.

"She's right Ranma-kun. No secret can be kept forever." The other girl said before standing up, "Hello Tendo-san, my name is…"

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…I feel so evil right now it's not funny. I decided to stop it here cause it won't matter wheter I put the name of the girl down or not, a lot of question will pop up anyway so... yeah… a cliff hanger huh?.

I hope I've satisfied you in the length category, I mean the disclaimer is shortened and the story is lengthened so… you know… reviews please!

Oh yeah the fish comment, em...I can't explain it, okay.


	7. An unnecessarlingly long flashback

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Truth About Wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of blood-god

Chapter 6: An unnecessarlingly long flashback

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ the manga. I don't own Ranma ½ the anime. I don't own Ranma ½ the website. I don't own Ranma ½ the movie. I don't own Ranma ½ the VCD. I don't own Ranma ½ the DVD. I don't own Ranma ½ the movie special director's cut version. I don't ow… hey wait I'm not done yet, come back COME BACK!FISH!

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--Flashback--

'I feel so tired, I better lie down,' the little teacher thought as she wobbled dazedly on her feet. She leant backward until her body hit something quite solid before allowing the gravity field to pull her to the floor. She tried to sit up, knowing that if she became unconscious now the chance of her waking up is slim to nil. But it was hopeless and within seconds she didn't have enough strength to even hold up her eyelids. The world flickered from light to dark, light to dark and soon the flickering stopped and only the darkness remained.

Obligatory Flashback within Flashback Sequence

"Ninomiya Hinako! Ninomiya Hinako! You wake up this instant!" A loud noise yelled out.

Hinako-chan lifted her head from the desk and wiped the small amount of drool on the side of her mouth before her friends... no, classmates… could see as she didn't want to give them another reason to make fun of her, it was already bad enough. The nine-year-old girl blinked a couple of times to get rid of the bleariness in her eyes before fixing her gaze in the direction of the board. She looked at it for almost a second before letting her attention wander again.

"Look at the board Miss Ninomiya. You won't come to my class to sleep half the time AND not pay attention WHEN you're awake!" The owner of the voice, her tormentor, screamed at Hinako-chan again.

The pre-teen glared at the balding man through her half-lidded eyes. She didn't have this kind of trouble in other classes partly because she's almost always sickly and frail. And while she wasn't the type of person who took advantage of her sickness, she still expects him to at least be a little nicer towards her.

"Don't give me that look young lady!" The teacher yelled again. "If you think you know better, answer this question," he finished while slapping a willow stick he carried around to intimidate students against the black board with a loud crack. Other students cringed at the painful noise but not Hinako. No, she just stared at him straight in the eyes, refusing to be cowed like other kids, before averting her eyes to look at the question on the board. She tapped her finger almost as if she was bored as she let her mind dissect the advanced algebraic in front of her.

"Y equals two plus or minus the square root of X," She answered confidently at the teacher and mentally smirked as she saw the man's retinas had widened. He sputtered for a moment before staring at the board and finally back at the young girl. He quickly gave the class some exercises to do before briskly left the classroom, his face flushed red with anger and embarrassment.

Hinako-chan watched him go, her eyes filled with merriment before turning back to look at her classmate but instead of the expected look of acceptance, their faces only held that same cold and distant attitude she'd always got from them. She inwardly cringed but refused to let it show on her pale face. It was as she'd expected, she knew that winning them over wouldn't be easy, but she couldn't help but hope it would be, so every time she looked into their eyes.

The young girl sighed softly before laying her head back onto her hand and closed her eyes. However, just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard a soft click of the door being opened. The girl sighed once more before lifting her head back up to look and see the two people arriving. Walking through the door was, unsurprisingly Mr. Mokutachi, Hinako spared him a glance before turning her attention towards the boy that was following him. He was wearing suit that looked a little ruffled. He also had a long pigtail that draped over his shoulder and beautiful blue eyes that seemed to go on forever, which went perfectly well with his handsomely thin jaw line and his…

'Ack, stop thinking like that! You're nine, Hinako, nine!' The young prodigy scolded herself. While it was true that girls mature faster than boys, she had to admit that the large proportion of her… liberal thinking came from other resources. Like the time she was bed ridden for days from her sickness and found nothing better to do than net surfing. It was somewhere between chemical science and behavioral study that she… ahem... learn that there's more to reproduction than "meiosis produce gametes".

She shook herself out of her reverie and watched as the boy strolled up to the front of the class to introduce himself. He seemed slightly unsure of what to do and was a little self-conscious until Mr. Mokutachi told him to state his name, interest and career path. Hinako frowned at the harsh tone the old teacher used when he was talking to the boy and it made her feel a little guilty because she was probably the cause of it.

"My name is Yamatoushi Kei. I'm nine years old. I practice the art and I wanna be the best martial artist ever!" The pigtailed boy started out slowly and gained momentum until he finishes loudly with a shy smile.

His smile, however, was quickly replaced with a confused frown as half of the class burst out laughing. The teacher mumbled 'great, another joker' before instructing the boy to take a seat. The boy's frown deepened as he walked towards the empty desks in the back. People kept telling him what a great joke he made or something along that line and it was confusing him. He cast a quick glance around the room and saw a pale girl sitting by herself next to the window. He walked over to the seat next to her and sat down, completely oblivious to the slight blush on her face. As the teacher started writing more notes on the board, the boy quietly introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Kei. Eh... do you know why everyone was laughing earlier?" The boy whispered, sounding a little unsure as how she'd take the question.

Hinako looked at him carefully, making sure that he wasn't fooling her. After all, he was here less than a minute and he'd already made half the class like him. It's possible that he was only pulling a prank on her. But she decided her caution wasn't needed as she looked into his eyes, which were filled with confusion and boyish innocence.

"It's because they think you were joking. You see… this school," She gestured at her school issued homework diary with '**Fortiter Et Recte**'(1) emblazoned across the top. "…is very prestigious and exclusive due to the fact that it highly values academic achievement. And for you to want to become a martial artist after attending this school, for them, is laughable." She finished and mentally crossed her fingers, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way.

He didn't. He looked around the room introspectively, as if seeing them again for the first time. He thought back to the couple of girls who was offering the seats next to them and felt glad he'd declined; he didn't want to sit next to people who think being a martial artist is a joke!

"I don't think being a martial artist is a joke at all, I think it's a very good career." Having mistook his silent contemplation for sulking, Hinako-chan had blurted out and immediately regretted it. It sounded cheesy and fake even to her.

"Thank you, eh…" Kei paused abruptly, realizing that he didn't know her name yet.

"Ninomiya Hinako, but please call me Hinako." She supplied her name coupled with a shy smile.

"Thank you Hinako-chan." The boy continued all the while smiling boyishly. "Hey do ya wanna be…" What the boy wanted her to be was lost as their teacher slammed his willow stick down on some poor boy's desk, silencing everyone in the class.

Throughout the rest of the period, Hinako kept sneaking glances at the boy sitting next to her. He seemed a little bored. 'Just like me' the girl thought. 'Maybe he's as smart as I am, maybe I finally found someone I can relate to.'

She was so content with watching the boy that she was actually kind of sad when she realized the period was almost over. Mr. Makutachi pranced around the room and handed out a sheet of paper to everyone before announcing that it's their homework and they can use the rest of the period to work on it if they want. Hinako looked at her paper and sighed. It was the same old, same old. She stuffed it into her backpack before turning to Kei. The boy was spinning a pencil with uncanny dexterity in his hand while reading their homework.

Her hope started to drop as she watched the boy as he stared at his paper for almost a minute. 'He couldn't do it.' Her line of thought trailed off as the boy started to circle in his answer, almost most without looking at the questions! Within seconds the boy was done. Hinako gaped at the grinning boy.

'Wow, he's amazing; even I couldn't finish it that fast' "Hey Kei-kun, can I have a look at that?" The girl asked, sounding a little awed.

"Sure no problem, Hinako-chan," The boy said, handing over his paper.

Hinako scanned the first few questions and frown. "Hey Kei-kun, are you sure some of these answers is right?"

"Of course not, Hinako-chan. I have no idea how to do any of them so I guess them all." Kei replied with a straight face. "Hey are you sure you should be putting your head on the floor like that? It looks pretty uncomfortable to me."

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"No, Kei-kun, when you plus, minus or do anything to an algebraic expression, you have to do them to both sides." Hinako said patiently. After noticing that Kei couldn't do his homework, the girl has been trying to determine how much math knowledge does the boy possessed. It seemed that Kei had only a rudimentary grasp, if any at all, of mathematics, let alone algebra. Of course she offered to tutor him right away; besides, if it takes him a long time to then it means that she will be spending more time with him.

'Besides, it's not as if I have a better way of passing time in this school anyway.' The girl thought miserably. While she was happy that she'd finally found a friend, it still hurt to be reminded that no one else liked her.

"Hinako-chan, how come no one is talking to ya?" Kei asked tactlessly after noticing the look of longing on his new friend's face. He then mulled the sentence over in his head and decided that it sounded a bit insulting so he clarified, "I mean, you're like one of the nicest and prettiest girls I know."

Hearing this, Hinako lost her melancholy mood in an instant and began to blush at the complement.

'Wow, that's the second time he calls me pretty today, maybe he likes me… Oh come on, who am I kidding? He's nine, he probably doesn't even know what the word really means. Besides soon he'll react like everyone else did." She slumped tiredly against the tree they were sitting under. It's only been a couple of hours and she didn't want to lose him, but if she didn't tell him now, he'd finds out later and it'd been much worse.

"Well Kei-kun, the thing is… this school is very competitive, everyone wants to be ahead of everyone else. It's already bad enough that I'm a lot smarter than the others but because I get sick all the time and spent half the term in hospital or at home… well… a lot of people resent me because I made it look easy." Hinako said to the boy who was nodding at her. In a way Kei could understand what she meant, he had faced similar treatment in the past. Whether they were young acolytes in training or older boys who were training at the particular dojo he and his father visited, they always held a definite displeasure at him. It was partly because he was a lot younger than them but mostly because he often mastered things quickly which took them years of discipline to learn.

"Well, I say they're all just a buncha idiots. I mean they shoulda train…eh learned harder instead of blaming ya for being better than them."

"Thank you Kei-kun. I really appreciate it. But there's another reason why they don't like me. You see, it happened almost a year ago now, I was walking through the park with my dad and I met this other kid who fell over and scraped his knee. I've never seen blood before so I was a little shocked and …" Hinako trailed off, looking into the horizon. Can she really tell him? Can she NOT tell him? Apart from her father and mother, he's the first person that had been nice to her in months. If she didn't tell him and he has to hear it from someone else he'd feel betrayed.

"It's okay if ya don't wanna talk about it. I mean, it's not like ya turned into a monster and ate him or something." Kei offered deciding that he didn't need to know everything about her. Beside it's not like he wasn't being secretive himself.

"NO… I meant I don't mind talking about it." The young prodigy cringed. She shouldn't have yelled, but the part where he said 'turning into a monster' struck a little too close to the true. Steeling herself, she began her story once more. "…eh so I freaked out at the blood from his wounds and for some reason it was like…it calls to me or something. I… I looked into his face, the boy's, and he was crying and I… I saw a lot of pain there and I wanted to help. Before I knew what I was doing I was holding my hand over him like this." Hinako held her hand out about an inch over his arm. The boy peered under her pale hand and noticed that he has a small cut there. He couldn't remember where he'd got it from, but living on the road like he was, it was something he'd gotten used to.

Kei shifted his gaze from his arm to his new friend as she seemed to concentrate for a moment. Suddenly a bright light burst forth from her hand and appeared to drift slowly down onto his arm. He'd almost jerked his arm back when, for the lack of better word, aura touched his skin. He'd expected it to be painful, but in the span of microseconds in which the mind worked, he rationalized that Hinako was his friend and friends don't hurt each other. Curbing his martial arts reflex, Kei allowed the aura to touch him and as he'd hoped, it wasn't painful at all. All he felt was a soft tingling sensation. As he watched on, his eyes widened as his skin started to knit itself together right before his eyes. He tried to say that it was amazing but his mouth was too busy gaping like a fish, so he settled at mouthing a silent 'subarashi'. (wonderful)

Unfortunately, the boy's response was lost on Hinako-chan, who was staring down at her hands sadly.

"I patched him up just like what I did it you, and I thought he'd be happy. I meant I'd only healed him, I didn't do anything wrong right? And so … so I turn towards him and I... I… see fear in his eyes. He was afraid of me, so very afraid… he…he ran away crying even harder than before." Hinako broke down sobbing into her hands. "I only wanted to help." The tears came unbidden and inequitably. Hinako-chan cried until the fear of losing her friend coupled with reliving her nightmare as well as the physical weakness she'd always suffered from each 'healing' had caused her to lose consciousness.

_**Bakemono naritakunai **_

Then little Hinako-chan fell into the sweet embrace of sleep.

"Noo... wake up Hinako-chan you're not a monster. You're my… Princess! Wake up Hina-ohime-chan! Wake up!

--End flash back within flash back, and now back (or is it forward?) to the actual flashback--

"Wake up Hinako-chan, come on wake up. Please wake up!" A familiar voiced yelled out from somewhere nearby but it seemed so far away.

_So far away…_

"Please wake up!" The voice called out again, this time with a hint of tears in it.

_So far away, and she felt so weak, it would've been easier to just float here. Yes, why not stay here. Here where it is so close to the light. Just stay here a bit. It's so warm, so simple. No grocery shopping, no doing dishes, no missing Mom and Dad, no missing Kei-kun. _

'_Yes, no more missing Kei-kun' the girl smiled a little at that. _

"Come on I don't want to lose you, not again. I can't lose you…" The voice came again, this time he was openly crying. Soft sobbing and quiet sniffles accompanied his words of sorrowful longing.

'_He sounds so sad,' the girl wondered 'I wonder if he lost someone important to him like I lost Kei-kun.'_

"Please say something Hinako-chan. I can't lose you again. I won't lose you again!" Again the voice came. This time it seemed like it touched a little part of her, a side no one sees. A face hidden behind a mask. A blade of glass under fallen leaves.

_But the mortal's Ki-voice failed. The darkness held, and she was blissfully floating... And so the shadow smiled, it never loses, never._

"Please come back …Hina-ohime-chan" The voice came again but this time it was barely a whisper.

_**Hina-ohime-chan.**_

_Three little words. It shouldn't work, it mustn't work, it couldn't work. But it did._

In a small underground laboratory in Furinkan, Ninomiya Hinako opened her eyes. The first thing she'd noticed was that it was bright. Everything was bright. The girl blinked a couple of times, trying to get used to the garish shade but it didn't work. Then the she'd noticed the boy standing over her.

"KEI-KUN!" Hinako screamed and jumped up. Still shocked by his friend and ex-teacher almost dying, Ranma didn't have the time to react and was caught in the full-blown glomp. Wincing slightly as the girl's momentum brought them down to the floor, the pig-tailed martial artist couldn't resist needling at the girl.

"Took you long enough, Hinako-chan." His smirking was suddenly cut short as the girl in question rammed her elbow not so softly into his head.

"Ite! What was that for?" The boy asked rubbing his sore head.

"That's for never calling me, or sending me a letter, or even one stupid post card!" Hinako yelled in his ear before hugging him close once more. "So… Kei-kun or should I say Ranma-kun…"

"Whichever you prefer, Hinako-chan, names are like faces to me, I wear whichever one I need. Besides, Saotome Ranma is as much a mask as Yamatoushi Kei" Ranma said absent-mindedly.

'Not as much as you'd like to think Ranma-kun' the girl thought. "So... Ranma-kun do you want to explain to me what you're doing?"

"Mm… I want to catch up with you first; I haven't seen you for ages… well you know what I mean." He paused and added as if it's an afterthought. "And I'd rather do it over a caramel sundae than in a stuffy lab."

"'A' caramel sundae?" Hinako asked incredulously, after all Saotome Ranma was almost as famous for his appetite as he is for his martial art prowess.

Ranma blushed a little as the girl in his lap snickered.

Hinako tried to stand up but lost her balance and almost fell over. Grabbing Ranma's arm for support, she leant against the doorframe and stared at her body.

It was somewhat similar to her adult form but a little shorter and a little less… busty. Her clothes seemed to fit almost perfectly now. Not hugging her every contour as if it was going to rip any minute like before. She used her hand to feel her face and it sighed in relief. She knew that some teenagers while going through puberty suffer an acne issue, and in the past she was spared that because of her age-changing tendency. Turning around slowly so she wouldn't fall over, the girl-turned-teenager looked at her companion.

"Em… Ranma-kun, what happened to my body?"

"Mm... well, you see… because your body absorbed a large amount of bio-chemical energy in the form of Ki, your large ki-reserve …eh… that is…" The prodigy began to sweat under his friend's unwavering gaze.

"…you have absolutely no idea at all do you." Came an even statement that was neither a question nor an accusation.

"…nope" The boy said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

--End of Flashback--

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(1)Means to be strong, it's Cambridge's motto.

The Japanese sentences, I didn't write them in English partly because I don't really want you to know the mean and also having it in Japanese was just so, …cool (nice guy pose from Maito Gai, Naruto)

Anywho, **Bakemono naritakunai **means I don't want to become a monster.

Another chapter's done. I hope you like it. Originally it was over 4000words but I had to cut it down. It about 'Kei' slowly becoming smarter but to heck with that, everyone knows what happen so it was pointless and going no where. So it was chopped. The story get kinda weird near the end, what with the whole near-death thing and all. Hopefully it's not TOO bad.

Anyway reviews are what drive me so keep them coming. The story should be updating pretty quickly now since it is approaching the fore-told disaster in the summary.

Thank to my precious pre-reader, Tread-weaver-san, I no longer have to listen to people moaning about my grammars.

P.S. I have a quest for some of my more avid reader's, for some reason I've begun saying FISH randomly I wanted to know why. Anyway found something that could explain this please mention it in ur review or something. I wanna know.


	8. An end to one insanity

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Truth about Wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the avatar of the blood-god.

Chapter 7: An end to one insanity

Disclaimer: I here by disclaim all that I need to disclaim, which should include my disclaimer. But then again, I know that you think that I know that I think that I know that you think that I don't think that you do. But I do. Which means that when I say I don't own Ranma ½, I mean it. But when I say I mean it, what do I really mean?

So think about that! Ha!

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"She's right Ranma-kun. No secret can be kept forever." The other girl said before standing up, "Hello, my name is Ninomiya Hinako, please think well of me," Hinako said in a neutral tone.

"Miss Ninomiya?" Nabiki said raising an eyebrow. She didn't know that the young teacher could turn into a teenager as well, but then again it won't surprise her at this point. The ice queen looked over to the pig tailed boy and saw him staring at her, his soft blue eyes held a flame that she'd never noticed before. Gone were the soft and trusting innocent caste and in its place were steely glints that almost caused her to shiver in fear. "I've heard of you before Ms. Hinako, I was expecting you to be a little... taller."

"Oh you mean ten-feet tall with demonic horns to match? I'm on break Tendo-san." Hinako said jokingly, but at the same time, devoid of any real humor. Both girls knew that Nabiki knows every nook and cranny of Furinkan High like the back of her hand. They both knew what the comment about her being taller meant, but sometime it pays to thread lightly.

"More a goddess than a demon I think, most of the schools are positively quivering in anticipation of being educated by you." Nabiki replied after giving a polite chuckle to the teacher's joke. Turning to Ranma, the girl gave him a lecherous look before commenting under her breath but loud enough for it to be heard. "Like Ranma here I take it?"

Hinako pretend she didn't hear the question and its implication, instead she turned towards Ranma and said, "Ranma-kun, it's rather late, shall we call it a night?"

Realizing that they'd gain nothing from being around Nabiki, Ranma quickly nodded. Just as the pair turned to leave, the mercenary grabbed the sleeve of Ranma's Chinese-T. "I'm not done with you yet," Nabiki hissed.

His shirt being made from silk, Ranma simply shrugged the girl's grasp off before glaring at the brown haired girl. "The conversation was over, Tendo-san"

"Oh no you don…"

"Don't what Nabiki-san? How can you stop me? I'm a martial artist who can leap buildings, punch holes in walls and throw balls of energy. What can you do?" Ranma interrupted her, his voice cold and menacing. He turned to Hinako who was looking at the pair in apparent disregard and left abruptly. Nabiki stared after them and as they walked off her eyes whirled with cyclones of conflicting emotions. There was irritation, no… stronger...more like anger. There was also embarrassment and a healthy dose of fear. Fear.

For the first time in years, Nabiki called a taxi. Like everywhere else on Earth, a taxi is expensive and she never calls them unless it was really important. But tonight she felt it was justified.

Embarrassment she could deal with, and anger, she was accustomed to. But fear? Fear was something she wasn't used to. Fear was something she cannot control... something that reminded her of her mothers death.

And while Fear is bad enough, while in the whirlpool of emotion she was a little earlier, she'd found something she'd never felt before.

Something else entirely, something that scares her more than fear itself.

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Tendo Nabiki sat alone in her room staring out the window. Her mind was on a lot of things; Ranma's changed attitude, Miss Hinako etc, but mostly she was thinking about dinner.

Dinner was delicious. It was magnificent, fabulous and wonderful. It was Kasumi's.

And that's just it. It was Kasumi's. Somebody once said 'a meal fit for a king never lasts,' and it's true. Given enough time, people can become used to anything. And then they take it for granted and before you know it, it wasn't good enough anymore.

Tonight dinner was fit for a king. It was simple.

But what wasn't simple was the fact that no one, not even one, said a word of gratitude. Not her father, not Saotome-san, not her sister and not her. No one but Ranma.

Not only had he said thank you, but he'd offered to help with the dishes. Doing what he'd considered to be a 'girly' thing and knowing full well that he'd have to be a girl while doing it.

_Was that really Saotome Ranma? _

Nabiki frowned. She knew she didn't love Ranma. She'd found THAT out during the brief period in which she had been his fiancée. But what about THIS Ranma? The one that's considerate of others, the one who's smart and above all, the one that stood up to her.

_The one who'd notice why she did what she did. The one who wouldn't take her for granted._

Nabiki looked down at her hands. In them were files on one 'Saotome Ranma' that she'd asked one of her sources to print out for her. It was a hard decision. If she didn't open it she may never know, but if she did…

_Would he notice? Would he care? Do I still have a chance? _

"Screw it. This can wait till tomorrow." Nabiki grumbled out loud, throwing the manila folder into her drawer.

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Saotome Genma glanced at the clock on the wall beside him. It read 6:00am. The balding martial artist cracked his knuckles and slowly crept up to his blissfully sleeping son.

A lot of people had said a lot of non-sense about the boy being some kind of genius after banging his head on a rock yesterday. He couldn't care less about it. So what if Ranma's smarter? He's still the Anything Goes's Heir and he's not going to neglect his duty. And that means no slacking off.

Pulling his foot back, he yelled "Get up you slacker!" before booting the boy out the window. At least that's what he'd tried to do.

What happened was, as soon as he got within a foot of his son's futon the floor gave out under him.

'Offfftt' The older Saotome grunted as his breath was expelled by the force of his fall. He looked up and saw that his son had awoken by the sound of his voice and was peering down the hole he'd fallen into.

"What's the meaning of this, boy? Setting up silly traps like some cowardly sneak! Oh, what've I done to deserve such a pitiful son?" Genma moaned dramatically.

"You're right Pop, I'm sorry," Ranma said, sounding strangely sincere.

"It's alright son, now you go get a rope and help me out of here."

Ranma disappeared for a second then re-appeared with a bucket. "I'm sorry for setting up such a silly trap like that Pop, I hope this improvement makes it better." The pig tailed boy said grinning evilly before tipping the bucket over his father. "Enjoy!" He yelled out as he left.

Genma the panda grunted in out rage before sniffing the air curiously. He stank of fish! That was just water but it was also filled with tuna bits. The panda pulled out a sign that said, 'Do you think a little smell is going to kill me?' having completely forgotten that Ranma had already left.

He was going to flip the sign over to the side that said 'You've gone soft boy' when he heard the sound of his impending doom.

'No No No No No No'

"Meow!"

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"Oh my, do you think Uncle Genma is alright?" Kasumi asked Ranma as he appeared in the living room. "That doesn't sound very pleasant."

The teenage martial artist cocked his head to the side, as if listening to some distant cries before nodding enthusiastically. "He'll be fine Kasumi-chan, he said he's feeling a bit feverish and won't be coming down for breakfast today."

"Oh my, I should check on him. It sounds as if he's coming down with something."

"Don't worry about it Kasumi-chan. He's fine. Beside he's been sick a lot of times on the road before. He should survive this one easily." Ranma insisted before mentally adding, 'I didn't starve the cat so he should be fine'

"If you say so Ranma-kun," Kasumi said letting the topic drop. She looked left and right trying to hide her blush. 'This is getting ridiculous, he'd only just said 'chan''. "Oh my, I better get started on breakfast," the girl said looking at the clock.

"I'll give you a hand Kasumi-chan," the younger boy said, grabbing an apron as he followed Kasumi into the kitchen.

"Oh my, you know how to cook Ranma-kun?"

"I did learn a few things while on the road Kasumi-chan, but I'm nowhere as good as you."

"Don't say such a thing," Kasumi whispered, blushing at compliment. It was nice to know that the real Ranma wasn't as arrogant as his 'mask'. Which, by the way, was a relief considering how obnoxious a lot of intelligent people could be.

"So… what's for breakfast, Kasumi-chan?"

"I was thinking of Sabayaki (1)… if that's okay with you I mean," the girl said shyly.

'What the hell?' Ranma thought, freaking out a little. Even naïve as he is, when it comes to girls, Kasumi acting… un-Kasumi-like… is a sure sign that something's up.

"Of course it is. Would you like me to toss the salad and prepare the miso soup?"

"Yes, please." Kasumi said, composing herself before opening the fridge to get the fish. 'It won't do for me to start acting around Ranma like Dr. Tofu did around me.' But she could now understand how Dr. Tofu must have felt. To be so close to the one you love the most but cannot act upon it. To be held by an invisible barrier, as if separated by a thin mirror that is the tradition of society, so close but so far apart. Oh, how cruel be the day and how cold be the nights. Oh if I cou…

"Em… Kasumi-chan?" Ranma said.

"Eepp!" Kasumi squeaked, coming out of her trance.

"I think the fish is ready." The boy commented before quickly turning back to chopping the onions all the while mumbling 'I didn't see that' under his breath.

"Heh?" The young homemaker muttered intelligently. She looked down at the fish she'd been cuddling. It was now thoroughly thawed and the ice that was on it was now dripping onto her apron.

"Oh my." Kasumi chimed, realizing that she had been hugging the fish rather tightly.

"Didn't see nothing," Ranma chanted, reverting back to his 'macho' speech.

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Breakfast was a subdued affair at the Tendo's that morning. You could blame this on the fact that Ranma was, presently, insane. Or you could blame it on a suspiciously fishy and pungent fishiness around Kasumi, which was scaring everyone.

But the truth was it was mostly due to the fact that a certain Saotome patriarch was not present.

"Ranma-san, where's uncle Saotome?" Nabiki asked, treading lightly still unsure of her feelings in regards to Ranma.

"He's a little sick this morning, he's not coming down for breakfast." Ranma said, hiding his grin with a sip of his miso soup.

Nabiki blinked twice before returning to her meal. 'Got to be lying. Genma wouldn't miss a meal even at the cost of his life, or more precisely his son's.' She eyed the boy warily for a moment before deciding to forget about it. At least they didn't wake her up early this morning.

"Thank you for the wonderful meal, Kasumi-chan," The dark haired boy said, folding his chopstick neatly over his bowl.

"Not at all Ranma-kun, it's a pleasure," The girl replied smiling slightly.

"Why you baka! You're now even more of a womanizing jerk than before!" Akane screamed, whipping out her mallet from thin air.

'Stupid law of physics' the boy grumbled as he ducked under the swing. He let the heavy tool miss him once more before yanking it out off the tomboy's hand as it passed by again.

"I was only thanking her Miss Tendo, something which you should do more often considering how much your sister has done for you." The pig tailed boy said evenly as he threw the mallet out into the pond. "Now, I suggest you restrain from drowning yourself by trying to get that damn mallet and get ready for school. The end of the year exam is today." And with that Ranma left the youngest of the Tendo's three and headed out to school.

"Wait up, Ranma-san!" Nabiki yelled out before running after him.

"Good morning Tendo-san." The boy said coolly. "What is it that you want?"

The so-called Ice Queen of Furinkan winced at the tone of his voice. She'd hoped that he wouldn't hold grudges about yesterday, as well as the day before. And last week. And last month. And… oh hell who's she kidding? with what she did to him during the past 2 years she would've been lucky if he didn't sue her.

"Ranma-san, although you pretend that nothing has changed since yesterday, we all know whatever it was that Akane did to you was the way things work around here. And while I'm not a martial artist, I'm still not a woman you should be trifle with. So I suggest a truce, I'll stop bothering you, and you forget about whatever 'Vendetta' you've planned." Nabiki paused, she would've continued but the boy in suddenly stopped walking. He whipped around, starring at her eyes-to-eye. When he spoke, it was in a tone that she'd never heard him use before.

"Vendetta?" He said mockingly, a hint of cynical humor peppered his tone. "You thought I was plotting for revenge?" He stared at her incredulously.

Nabiki stared back at him, her true feelings hidden behind a mask, years in the making. She was scared, true, but that was yesterday. Today was different. Today was like seeing him in a new light. The reason she wanted the truce wasn't because she was afraid of revenge, no… it was because she thought it would be a first step towards something more.

"You really don't know me do you, Nabiki?" The boy stated forlornly before turning around and continuing to walk to school.

The girl stared after him; visibly her eyes were cold and lifeless but behind that void laid turmoil of conflicting emotions. And while she'd wanted to do nothing more than to run over to him and confess her true feeling, years of repression held her back. She was, as she'd predicted, inevitably caged in a wall of her own making.

And so Tendo Nabiki stood silently as the boy in front of her grew more distance in a lot more ways than one...

_Alone_

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"Pencils down!" An examiner yelled out, signaling the end of the exam. Nabiki folded her answer sheet and began to collect her belongings. It hadn't been too bad. Chemistry was as hard as she'd expected and while she had to guess some of her biology questions, she was pretty sure she aced the physics papers.

'Finally, it's over' the girl thought with a sigh. She stood up and left the exam room, feeling elated. She'd spent way too much time on her 'business' lately and she'd feared that it would affect her academic achievements.

'Keep your eyes on the prize, girl. There's no point in saving up for college if you can't get in' Nabiki mentally scolded herself.

Sighing, the girl followed the sea of students, making her way down the small corridor and after what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it outside.

Nabiki sighed forlornly as she looked at the students in front of her. They were cheering, laughing and generally having a good time, celebrating the fact that the exam was over. The mercenary girl sighed once again, why couldn't she have that? A life where she only had to worry about homework, exams and, god forbid, her boyfriend. A life where somebody saw her as more than cold hearted extortionist. A life where she could have friends.

"Hey Nanami" The girl called out as she saw a familiar girl rush past her. Nanimi turned around and scanned the crowd for the person who called out her name.

"Good afternoon, boss!" The girl yelled back but made no effort to come closer to Nabiki.

"Say, do you want to go for Monja-yaki (2) with me? It's the end of the year, why not celebrate a bit?" Nabiki said. She'd almost said 'I'm paying' but she had a reputation to protect and besides, saying that would make it sound like she was desperate.

"I'll have to take a rain check on that one, boss. Koji and I are going on a date tonight." The girl paused, weighing going out with her boyfriend and risk incurring the wrath of Tendo Nabiki against the alternative. "But if it really important to you…"

"No, it's alright. Enjoy yourself." The brown haired girl interjected, brushing her lackey off. Despite all the questionable things she did, she was never one to hurt others to ensure her own happiness.

Nabiki looked around the courtyard. It was mostly empty now, some of the students would be on their way home, and some would be with their friends in an arcade or a karaoke place.

And for what must've bent the billionth time that day, Tendo Nabiki sighed and prepared to walk home alone.

"_Maybe redemption has stories to tell"_

Nabiki blinked, she was sure she'd just heard something. She looked left and right but saw nothing, so she continued to walk. But before she could take another step the same voice rung out again, this time closer and clearer.

"_Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell"_

The girl craned her neck as if it would help her to hear better. She'd recognized the lyric, it was 'Dare you to move' from Switchfoot. She smiled a bit at this realization. She never liked Rock n' Roll all that much but this song held a special meaning for her.

"_Where can you run to escape from yourself?"_

The girl looked around once again. She was sure it was coming from somewhere nearby.

"_Where you gonna go?"_

Nabiki whipped her head around, her eyes widened. The last part sounded like it came from right behind her. To her disappointment, the only thing behind her was a concrete wall. She blinked once and smiled at the shadow which cast over her. The girl smiled and lifted her head. She opened her mouth and sang in a beautiful voice that no one had ever suspected her of having.

"_Where you gonna go?"_

Starring into familiar sapphire orbs, the brown haired girl smiled a warm and genuine smile, one that spoke of hope and joy. The beat finally arrived and they lift their voices and sang as one.

"_Salvation is here"_

Ranma hopped down from the fence he was standing on and gestured for the girl to talk while they walk home.

"How was your day, Nabiki-san?" The pig tailed boy asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that formed between the two of them.

"It'd been pretty tense. It's the end of the year test after all. But I'm fine now that it's over." Nabiki answered before mentally adding. 'Now that you're here.'

The silence was back.

"So how was your day? How did you think you did on your test?"

"It wasn't as hard as I'd expected. I think I won't be too upset with my result." The boy said humbly, something unheard of if you've met the boy before.

The silence was back again. It stayed for a while before it was broken again, this time by the raven-haired boy.

"Listen Nabiki, I'm sorry for what I've said yesterday and this morning. I guess I was a little angry at you when you threatened me."

"It's understandable Ranma. I would like to apologize as well. For what I put you through in the past two years you've been with us. There's no excuse for what've done and all I can offer you is that, I'm sorry, and that I promise I won't do it again." The girl said with a consolatory tone, her eyes downcast.

"It's okay Nabiki, the money for the two free-loaders has to come from somewhere." Ranma paused and smirked at the wide-eyed Ice Queen of Furinkan. "And while I don't appreciate you taking pictures of me, I have to admit that you were somewhat justified. So, friends?"

"You forgive me?" Nabiki asked bewilderedly as she stared at the martial artist. "But why? After all I've done to you."

"Are you kidding me, Nabiki? Compared to what my old man has done to me, your 'extortions' were nothing. Besides, Ryoga tries to kill me on regular basis and I still count him as a friend." Ranma said, flashing the girl a roguish smile. "So, friends?" He repeated, offering a hand.

The middle Tendo sister stared at the pre-offered hand for a moment before slowly lifting her head up to look at the boy.

"Friends" Nabiki said. Eyes brimming with tears and a shy smile forming on her lip, she took his hand and shook it firmly to make it's not a dream.

Ranma looked back at her; his smile faltered for a moment.

Suddenly he leant forward and kissed her. On the lips. Breathtakingly. Passionately.

"…wha?" The poor girl mumbled dazedly. She blinked a couple of times before finally her eyes focused on Ranma's. For some unfathomable reason they held sadness in them. She was going to ask him what wrong and why he had kissed her, in that order, when she was interrupted by familiar cries of anger.

"RANMA NO HENTAI!"

"GET AWAY FROM RAN-CHAN, YOU HUSSY !"

"OBSTICLE FOR KILLING!"

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Ranma stared at the girl in front of him. It's true that he was being too forgiving but he can honestly say that he held no resentment towards the mercenary. She had to do what she had to do. And in some ways he could sympathize with her. They both are, in some ways, very similar to each other. Both have a dysfunctional parent that forced them to look after themselves, both shunned by their peers for one reason or another and both living behind a mask that no one can see through.

This is why he had no resentment for her. Because while he had Kasumi and Hinako, SHE had no one.

'She's just like who I used to be. Can I really do this to her?' Ranma asked himself, realizing how much his plan could hurt her if she were to find out the truth later on. 'Kasumi is right, I've changed. Before I would've just calculated the risks involved and not a give a damn about whose feelings I might hurt.'

Ranma pondered this for one more second before steeling himself. 'I'm sorry Nabiki' the young prodigy thought as he leant forward and kissed the said girl on the lips. He ignored the tingling sensation on the back to his neck telling him that he was about to be attacked and allowed himself to melt into the kiss. It was full of life, caring, passion, lust and love. It transcended the emotions described in many books and stories he'd read. It was far from a quick and disgusting peck he'd received from that over-eager Mikado Sanzenin. It was …beautiful.

_What kind of relationship could we've had if I were engaged to you?_

An eternity later, the boy leant back from the kiss. He fought the urge to lean back and kiss the confused looking girl once again. Instead he readied himself for the up coming 'battle'.

"RANMA NO HENTAI!"

"GET AWAY FROM RAN-CHAN, YOU HUSSY !"

"OBSTICLE FOR KILLING!"

'Right on cue.' Ranma thought as he gathered Nabiki in his hard arms and leapt away. As he was dodging and weaving around the attacks his three fiancée-turned-assailants had thrown, the pig tailed boy looked around for a suitable place to finish his act. His eyes roamed around the area and came to a stop at a fire hydrant. 'Mm… painful but I guess it'll do.'

The martial artist ducked under a barrage of razor-sharp spatulas and deposited the girl in his arms down gently. He smiled at her and pretended that he didn't hear the girls closing in behind him. He watched as Nabiki's eyes widened in fright.

"WATCH OUT!" The brown haired girl yelled.

The boy turned around and took a rounded steel mace right between the eyes. For a moment the whole street was silent to the point of being unnatural. The three 'true' fiancées and the Ice Queen watched as a familiar pig tailed figure flew through the air and crashed into a fire hydrant. The fire hydrant cracked opened with a sickening crunch, spraying the area with water.

A girl turned into a cat, two girls turned into two wet girls and a boy turned into a girl dressed as a boy.

The first one to recover was the redhead. She groaned pitifully and sat up, leaning on a concrete wall.

"Owieee, damn it why did ya have to hit me, ya un-cute tomboy! I wasn't picking on your precious Ryoga, honest!" The girl grumbled, rubbing her head. She looked around a couple of time before blurting out the obvious, "Hey, I'm not in the Tendo's backyard!"

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Tendo Nabiki sat alone in her room once again. She stared at the photograph she had in her hands. It was a photograph of a pig tailed boy. He had a roguish and winsome smile on his face. Looking at it brought a smile to her face. She turned to her right and pressed 'delete' key on her keyboard and within minutes all the files she had on one 'Saotome Ranma' was gone.

She right clicked with her mouse and moved the curser to 'new folder'. She clicked the newly formed icon and changed the name to 'Ranma'. No surname. She moved to her scanner and uploaded the photograph she was holding onto her computer. Couple of clicks later and the picture of the boy now stood proudly atop the folder.

"I'm not giving up that easily, Ranma-kun." Nabiki said out loud, brushing a single tears drop that formed on her eye.

Of course, the moment was ruined by a pop up. Ironically enough, the advertisement said, '18 years old red-headed girls looking for a fun-loving bedmate'

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1) Saba is a fish which taste really good when grilled with soy sauce! Hence Saba-yaki is a name for a tasty meal of grilled fish.

2) Monja-yaki is similar to Okonomi-yaki but it a bit more exotic (as in corns & mayonnaise, weird tasty but weird) Going to monja-yaki is like going to a 'Cook-it-yourself' place, it's a lot of fun when you do it with friends or family. I've experienced this when I was in Japan. I was invited to join 3 hot girls and I had a blast cooking monja-yaki.

There you have it folks. I'm sorry I didn't update earlier but my school account ran out of money so I can't post it from there. So I had to put it in a flobby disk (one of those tiny square things that can hold 2MB) and take it back home AND upload from here.

Any who, I hope you liked it. As always review!

I finally found my editor, it seems that the plane ticket I gave him for vacation was non-return flight to Bermuda. Welcome back Tread Weaver-san, …put that chainsaw down.

Anyway, while Tread-Weaver-san was away various mistakes were corrected by my trusty reviewers Thank you Materia-Blade-san, Luna-chan.

The Fish comments, I'm still wondering...


	9. Cliffie! Or something like it

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Truth About Wisdom, by Krimzonrayne, the Avatar of the blood-god.

Chapter 8: Cliffie! Or something likes it

Deescleimer: I dun't oovn Runma1/2 nur du I oovn zee vunderffool prugrem celled 'Zee Deeelectizer' vheech I used tu trunsffurmed thees deescleimer intu muny vunderffool deeelects. Um gesh dee bork, bork! It cun du Redneck, Jeefe-a, Cuckney, Ilmer Foodd, Svedeesh Cheff, Murun, Peeg Leteen, oor Hecker. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp! Ifee peeg leteen, I meun cume-a oon is thet evesume-a oor vhet? Unyvey thees is dune-a in Svedeesh Cheff

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma1/2 nor do I own the wonderful program called 'The Dialectizer' which I used to transformed this disclaimer into many wonderful dialects.It can doRedneckJiveCockneyElmer FuddSwedish ChefMoronPig Latin_, or _HackerEven pig latin, I mean come on is that awesome or what? Anyway this is done in 'Swedish Chef_'._

(The editor, who grew up in a small Swedish town in rural America, would like to say, "Ya, shure, yu betcha! Dat's deee goooot stuff yagot 'der, hey? Bork-Bork!" It's really amazing I learned proper (American) English at all.)

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Tendo Nabiki is not a morning person. And while this seems like it's an opinion, it is in fact...well... a fact. And similarly to the whole 'there are a mllion bicycles in Beijing thing,' it's a thing we can't deny. Why even her elder sister, Tendo Kasumi said, 'Nabiki is most disagreeable in the morning.' If you know Kasumi, you'll understand how badly her 'disagreeable' implies.

This is why there's an unwritten rule in Nerima that states, 'DO NOT call Tendo Nabiki before her morning coffee.' All in all, a wise rule really.

So when the middle Tendo sister woke up to the sound of yelling this morning, she was more than ready ( and quite willing ) to make the guilty party pay. Literally as well and figuratively, of course. The brown haired girl grumbled in language of dead fishes as she pulled herself from her bed. She slowly made her way to the window and flung it open with the grace of a three hundred pound panda suffering from a hangover. The girl clawed at her eyes, trying to get rid of the bleariness as she peered down into the scene below. She noted, with displeasure, that the sources of her ire were once again none other than the freeloading father-son duo She felt her head pound as she watched the pair exchange more devastating blows or more importantly, noise generating blows.

BOOM! A Three hundred pound panda crashed into the Tendo backyard, resulting in a painful, ear ringin and resounding boom.

Nabiki's eyes twitched. Make that LOUD noise generating blows. Having decided that she had enough, the ex-mercenary cupped her hands over her mouth and prepared to give the pair a taste of her blood curdling scream of righteous female anger. Then she stopped.

'Ex-mercenary? What the heck? Oh that's right, I had my final exam yesterday. I'm practically finished with high school,' Nabiki recalled. She paused a bit, allowing her brain to warm up. 'Wow that's great! That means I don't have to make any more money off the students. Wooo hooo! So long life of the cold hearted mercenary!' She then looked back down at the pigtailed boy sparring with his panda of a father. The girl narrowed her eyes at the boy. There's something about Ranma that she couldn't quite remember this morning.

With her anger curbed by the joy she felt from reminding herself that she's no longer an extortionist, Nabiki decided that the Saotomes get to live another day and left the room. She ventured downstairs, clad only in her T-shirt and panties. Realizing this, the girl quickly padded into the bathroom. No one gets to see her naked, at least not for free. Of course it's not like she'd actually do it, even for money, but it's the principle of the thing.

The former ice queen of Furinkan walked over to the water faucet and splashed a handful of water onto her face. She peered into the mirror and frowned.

'Do I really look like this in the morning?' She silently asked hrself. 'Look at that! The stress is practically showing on my eyes. And my lips…' At that the girl lifted her hand to her face and brushed a finger across her parched lips. For some reason her finger seemed to linger there, as if trying to feels for some invisible marks she'd forgotten.

Then yesterday hit her. And unlike a ton of bricks, it felt wonderful.

'Heh heh heh, Ranma-kun...' Nabiki's train of thought trailed off as she began to giggle in earnest. 'I'm coming for you!'

With that in mind, the girl ran out of the bathroom and into the living room. She was about to pass the kitchen and run outside with intent to tackle her sister's fiancée in an amazon-like manner. That's when she saw her dear sister Kasumi.

In an almost mechanical-like movement, Nabiki turned around and stared at her sister doing that… She blinked twice before her eyes focuses again. It's still there.

"Maybe I'll have my cup of coffee irst," the girl mumbled, her eyes still locked onto the mind bogglingly bizarre sight of Kasumi dancing about while hugging a semi-frozen tuna.

"Or maybe I should take a long bath and forget all about this," Nabiki said aloud and began to edge away when a particular part of the waltz brought her sister within a foot of her.

In all honesty, Nabiki must be commended for her courage. She didn't start running until the oblivious homemaker was making kissing noises with the seafood.

(1) see Editor's note

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Ranma was feeling particularly paranoid and in some way he thought it was well justified.

His morning started off well enough. 'Well' as in normal, of course. No one in their right mind would consider being thrown out of a comfortable futon into a semi-frozen pond at the crack of dawn a good way to begin ones' day. But like I said, 'well' for Ranma was 'normal'.

Sparring with his father was pretty easy too. A couple of mindless taunts, let him get a shot in once or twice and kick him into the pound for the finale was simple enough. Sure, his father surprised him a bit by wanting to keep going after being turned into a panda. He guessed his father must've harbored some kind of resentment. But then again being attacked by a feral household animal will do that to you.

Whatever resentment he had, Ranma gave him another dunk in the Koi pond to cool off.

After his sparring, the pigtailed boy took his customary bath. Unsurprisingly he had to wait for Nabiki to finish. Surprisingly, she didn't charge him for it.

So he took his bath, got dressed, dodged the tomboy and arrived just in time to stop his father from stealing his breakfast. And that was when things got a little…

Shall we say… creepy, curious, eccentric, eerie, far-out, fearful, flaky, freaky, funky, ghastly, ghostly, haunting, horrific, inscrutable, kinky, kooky, magical, mysterious, occult, odd, ominous, outlandish, peculiar, preternatural, queer, secret, singular, spooky, strange, supernal, supernatural, uncanny, uncouth, unearthly, unnatural.

(2) see Editor's note

In another word, the breakfast was down right weird.

First of all, there was Kasumi who, for a reason he didn't even want to think about, once again smelled unerringly fishy.

Secondly, there was pop. Who, for the first time in his life, not only wasn't stealing his food but was picking at his own serving! What could cause such drastic change in Genma, he didn't know, but every once in a while he'd hear him mutter something about 'fish' and 'fish smell'.

Then there was Nabiki. The change in the middle Tendo sister was probably the most prominent. It was as scary as it was surprising. The first thing he'd noticed about her was her perfume. It was, if his nose didn't betray him, 'Poison', a moderately priced perfume… something Ranma knew the girl only used sparingly. Then his keen eyes detected her subtle hint of make up.

The way she walked towards him, rolling her hips with every step. The way she'd smile ever so seductively while she spoke…

"Let me walk with you Ranma-kun."

Ranma whipped his head around to the owner of the voice and immediately wished he didn't.

Nabiki blinked at the sudden kiss she'd received from the boy. She rubbed her blushing cheek and smile at the flustered martial artist.

"Why Ranma, while I'm your fiancée, I don't think we should be doing that sort of things... in public… yet..." The girl mentally snickered while she watched her fiancée as he visibly turned a little redder with each word.

"Whadda ya mean fiancée? I ain't ya innazuke. I'm engaged to ya sister remember?" Ranma spluttered but caught himself before he talked in properly sentenced Japanese and gave himself away.

"Well the engagement was between Saotome Clan and Tendo Clan right? If you and Akane don't work out then we could shift it onto me and you," Nabiki said, smiling both genuinely and sadly this time. "And I promise it won't be like last time. This time I won't try to manipulate you or pawn you off to the highest bidder."

Ranma stared into the older girl's eyes and shivered. Her words, they sounded genuine and full of hope. Would it be so bad if he gave it a try?

Nabiki snaked her arms around Ranma's well-built frame, her finger traced his lean and not overly muscular body. She shifted around so her body was right by his side, almost but not quite hanging off him.

"Oh no, we won't be wasting our precious time on silly things like that at all. In fact, I'd imagine we would be far too… busy." The girl said throatily as she slid her hand downwards.

Ranma bolted.

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A boy in a Chinese-T ran into Furinkan high, his familiar pigtail bounced about with every bounding step he took.

"Halt you cur, where hath you taken my pigtailed offt…"

Whether it's on grass, mud, concrete or head of an insane Kendoist. Ranma leaned forward and, using Kuno's head as springboard, pushed off onto the 2nd floor balcony. The Blue Thunder of Furinkan tried to curse his archenemy the 'foul sorcerer' but his words were muffled by a mouthful of dirt, courtesy of Newton's law of equilibrium.

Ignoring whatever it was his daily assailant had to say, Ranma landed gracefully on the 2nd floor and ran into his homeroom. He looked left and right before sitting down, sighing deeply in relief.

"Hello Ranma-kun," a voice said beside him.

"Ekk!" The boy screamed in fright then relaxed when he saw whom the owner of the voice was. "What are you doing here?"

The girl stared at him blankly before replying in a dry tone. "I work here. You have English first period remember?"

"Oh that's right. I forgot."

"Oh woe is me, it has only been a day but my childhood friend has already forgotten about me." Standing up, Hinako cried out in a dramatic fashion. She looked down and smiled at the boy who began to smile grudgingly as well. "So what got you so worked up this morning anyway?"

"It's Nabiki," Ranma said quietly. "I'm not sure whether she knew about my plan or not but she's definitely up to something. She was acting VERY strange this morning."

Hinako's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by strange?"

"She has been practically throwing herself at me since breakfast."

"Do you think she noticed your code?" Hinako asked conspiringly.

"That's doubtful, unless you were looking for it. That code was practically impossible to find," The boy said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "But then again, you did find it."

"Oh give me some credit Ranma-kun," the young teacher said and pouted mockingly at Ranma.

The pig tailed boy was about to reply when he heard that all too familiar voice.

"Isn't it enough that you flirted with my sister all morning but you got to do it at school as well? RANMA NO HENTAI!"

Ranma mentally sighed and resigned himself for the blow. It sucks having to pretend to be a sexist I-don't-hit-girls type of a jock and not being able to just dodge it and kick the arrogant stuck up princess's ass. He closed his eyes waited for the pain. It didn't come. He opened his eyes and saw that the mallet was stopped inches above his head. He craned his head to the side and saw his friend's hand gripping Akane's wrist tightly, stopping her from hitting him.

"Miss Tendo, I suggest that you apologize to Mr. Saotome. I will NOT tolerate unwarranted assaults in my class," Hinako said calmly then tightened her grip as she saw the haze of anger in the girl's eyes. The violent girl finally registered the pain and gave a nod of compliant to the other girl. However, instead of apologizing as soon as the young teacher let go of her hand, Akane just glared at her. The building tension was fortunately broken by the bell, which signaled the beginning of school. It also signals the beginning of bad hair year for those who weren't in school when it rang, but that's not really important right now.

The Tendo girl gave an undignified 'humph' before walking over to her usual seat and sat down. She turned around and glared at her fiancée. Hinako looked as if she wanted to say something but held her tongue as the student began to arrive.

'Man this sucks.' Ranma thought as Akane relentlessly tried to bore a hole in his back.

The other students seated themselves and it was a whole minute before the inevitable happened.

"Hey Sensei, where's Miss Hinako?" A student called out.

"I AM Hinako," The teenage educator said simply, as if it was obvious, before giving the boy that asked the question a harsh stare. "And that's Ninomiya-sensei to you!"

For a moment, save for the sound of synchronized blinking, the whole class lapsed into complete and utter silence. The students looked at each other, exchanging blank looks or odd range of emotions.

Then another student said, "Hey, does this mean she can't use her power anymore?"

Again silence ensured. This time however, it didn't last.

"GET HER!" The male students screamed as one, years of pent up hormones born off countless rejections at the hand of a certain Tendo made them think it's rational to attack a girl in class, even if the said girl is a teacher.

Ranma was about to spring out of his chair and rush to his friend's rescue, thinking that she was helpless now that he'd taken the flawed technique she had away.

He was half way out of his chair when Hinako whipped out a whip from thin air. Laughing in the manner that would've scared The Black Rose spit less, the young teacher began lashing away at the lustful boys with deadly accuracy.

At this point the girls and what left of the boys began to exit the class in a manner which best suit the situation, which is something along the line 'run like hell and never look back'.

In direct defiance to the laws of physics, our favorite aqua-transsexual remained in mid-air for almost a minute before face faulting onto his desk. It broke in half. Ranma tried to get up but his body just shivered and became unresponsive every time he heard the relentless maniacal laughter.

"OHO HO HO HO HO HO"

Hinako? Well you all know what she was doing.

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"Emm.. Boss. What are you doing?"

Nabiki looked up from the chocolate tar tar she was sprinkling icing onto. "Yes?" she asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ayunami, Nabiki's right hand man…eh…woman asked, sounding very unsure of herself at the moment.

"Of course I am. Why shouldn't I be?" the brown haired girl replied absent-mindedly as she turned back and gave the desert a finishing touch.

"Well…" the younger girl began. "I'm not sure where to begin…" she said, taking the huge array of sweets and pastries scattered around the table and finally her Boss, Tendo Nabiki, in pink polka dotted apron.

"I'm not sure how to put it but you're acting very strangely today."

Nabiki nodded in understanding all the while examining a smudge on one of tarts with a look of disdain on her face. She carefully set it down next to the muffins and turned to her lackey. 'Damn, I got to stop thinking of them as that.'

"I'm planning to do the unthinkable," she said dramatically.

"Poison the whole school and hold them hostage? You've already tried that once remember?"

"No, I'm after something more than a million yen this time. Something a lot bigger."

"Ten million yen?" BANG! "Owwwiiee, gomen," Reika cried after receiving a bob to the head for being stupid.

"So what is it?" Reika asked again, seriously this time.

Nabiki looked left and right before leaning in.

"The Heart of Saotome Ranma."

As these words left her mouth, a thunder strike outside the window of the Home Economics classroom, surprising the visitors to the school. The student just ignored it, thinking that Kuno-sempai was probably just introducing himself to someone again. Poor sod.

Reika blinked repeatedly, 'Did lightning just strike when Boss said that?' She shook her head, thinking it was just her imagination.

"Wow, I didn't think you had it in you, Boss!" the younger girl exclaimed.

Nabiki beamed for a second before she realized who she was talking to and what that statement implied. She scowled at her lackey and went back to decorating her desserts. She had only done one when Reika spoke out again.

"So your plan is to woo him with your culinary skill?" Reika asked, "Don't you think that's a little unorthodox even for you?"

"Cooking skill is quite different from my little sister," Nabiki answered. "Besides, I'm not planning on doing this alone."

"What do you mean, Boss?"

"Oh nothing, just some flavoring…" The ex-mercenary said pulling out a bottle of spice. "Curtsey of Nekohanten's herb cabinet. A little something to give my desserts certain… zest."

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It was lunchtime in Furinkan High and Ranma was still paranoid. Not only had the classes he had this morning failed to calm him down, but they seemed to have pushed him closer to the edge.

First Akane was mad at him then Hinako-chan turned out to be some kind of whip-wielding dominatrix. THEN Akane tried to attack her, and not only has she shown herself to be almost immune to the whipping, be she seemed to like it.

The pig tailed prodigy shivered. He wasn't sure which one disturbed him more, a dominatrix Akane or a subservient and masochistic one.

"Yo Ranma-kun!" cried out a now familiar voice.

The said boy turned his head to the direction the noise was coming on, sure enough, it was Nabiki who called out to him. The brown haired girl sauntered over with grace and mannerisms of a legendry femme fatale. She stopped about a meter in front of the boy, a hand placed on her hip in a very suggestive manner.

"Look what I've found," Nabiki said, opening a box she was holding. In it was some of the most heavenly desserts he'd ever seen. "The Home Ec. Class was about to throw these out. Anyway you know how much I hate wasting good food so I stopped them. So do you want to share it?"

Ranma gulped visibly. Nabiki must've known about his plan otherwise she couldn't have made a counter attack as good as this one. She must've put something in the food knowing that he couldn't decline them without acting out of his character. Saotome Ranma simply does not say no to free food.

Of course, it doesn't help that the real him couldn't say no to free food either.

'Come on brain, give me an excuse,' The boy pleaded silently, if the red stuff on the scone is what he thinks it is this could get ugly really fast.

"Come here Ranma-kun, these fudges are just to die for," Nabiki said patting the ground next to where she was sitting.

"….fudges…" Ranma mumbled, sounding as if he was hypnotized.

"And the éclair, can't forget the éclair. Mmm…so… smooth…" The girl said, licking the cream from her lip. 'The cream couldn't have gotten THAT far could it?'

"…éclair…" The martial artist mumbled again, reaching out with his hand as he did so.

"AIREN! SHAMPOO BRING TOO TOO GOOD LUNCH"

"Yes! Ramen. Gotta go Nabiki." Ranma yelled as he ran off.

'Damn! Almost got him that time.' The Tendo girl thought. 'Oh well it looks like plan B a bust.'

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"Psstt. Ranma. You can come out now." Daisuke whispered into the locker next to his. "She has gone home."

The locker door swung open with a soft creak. Like a professional contortionist or a land-live octopus, Ranma extricated himself from the 2 by 1 steel cage and landed smoothly outside with the grace of a cat. He looked left and right, as if expecting an attack to come from any direction before relaxing this tensed muscles and leant again the row of students' lockers.

"So why do you think Nabiki's after you this time?" Hiroshi, another one of Ranma's male buddies, asked.

"Donno man, but I ain't taking no chances with her. I mean, being all-nice like that? She's got to be up to something."

"Hey maybe she's got a thing for you or something. I mean with your record, I'm surprised she hasn't already."

Ranma stared down the corridor, not meeting his friends' eyes. Could it be true? He didn't think what happened yesterday could've made Nabiki fall in love with him. 'But think about how it happened between me and Xian Pu or Ryouga and Akari. I mean, seriously, Nabiki falling in love with me because I was nice to her would make more sense than Pig-boy beating Akari's pig.'

Bidding a quick goodbye to his two friends, Ranma left the school and made his way to the Tendo dojo all the while never once having stopped thinking about Nabiki.

Upon entering the Tendo residence, Ranma immediately knew something was up. First, it was Akane. Instead of the usual sentence he received for coming home late, i.e. 'You were at Ucchan's weren't you?' or 'I bet you were hanging with that Amazon bimbo again.' the blue haired girl was waving desperately at him.

"Ranma you can't be here right now!" Akane said as the pig tailed boy got within meters of her.

"What is it this time? Is my Mom visitin' or something?"

As if on cue, Genma arrived in his panda form with his signs swinging back and forth high in the air. It read 'Son get out of here!'.

Well, it actually read 'Son, get the phone' but with his father's handwriting, he assumed it meant 'to leave' instead of 'phone'.

"What the hell is goin on here?"

Somewhere inside the house, a cat meowed. Genma froze.

"It that what I think it is?" Ranma asked.

"There are coming!" The panda exclaimed in a girlish squeal that should've been impossible for an animal to make. For some reason, it seemed oddly appropriate coming from Genma. He bolted, leaving a billowing dust cloud behind him as he tore out the living room and down the street.

"Oh my, it looks like I have to dust the living room again." Said Kasumi, popping her head out from the kitchen in a comical fashion.

"eh... Hi Kasumi-chan," Ranma said waving nervously at the girl. 'Did her head just come out horizontally?'

"Oh, hi Ranma-kun," the girl said, waving a fish back at him. Again, from a seemingly impossible angle. "Mmm... I think it would be best if you're not here right now, Ranma-kun. Nabiki-chan did something to make the whole house smell like fish. Apart from her room, I don't think there's anywhere that's safe for you to be right now."

"Apart from her room?"

"Yes, I believe she's trying to get you to go in there for one reason or another."

Understanding what the girl meant, Ranma decided that discretion was indeed better part of valor and began to move towards the door. Akane watched him go, completely oblivious to the hidden message exchanged between her sister and her fiancé. She was about to turn around and go help Kasumi in the kitchen when Ranma ran back into the living room and bounded upstairs.

"Wha..." Akane began to say, only to be cut off by a swarm of meowing felines. 'No wonder Ranma was running, there must be over a hundred cats here. She turned to see how her sister was doing.

"Oh my, we have guests." The homemaker exclaimed before she was swarmed under. It looks like they won't be having Sashimi for dinner after all.

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Our hero (and sometime heroine) slammed the door to his room open and ran inside, blinked and ran out again. Whatever Nabiki did to lure out the cats, it sure worked like a charm. There must've been a dozen cats in there. This is bad. While he doesn't have a pathological fear of cats, he didn't come out from the Nekoken training unscathed either.

"Ahhhh!" Faking a suitable sound effect, the teenage martial artist ran into the only place that didn't smell like fish. Nabiki's room, the lair of the Ice Queen. What he saw inside almost made him run out again, almost.

"Gack! Nabiki, what are you wearing?" Ranma screamed, shutting his eyes and leant against the door. He heard the soft ruffles of clothing followed by soft taps of stiletto heels against wooden floor.

"The question you should be asking, my dear, is what am I NOT wearing?" came a sultry reply from somewhere far too close for his liking.

The boy gulped audibly. He would like nothing more than to run out of the room but that would require him opening his eyes, something which at the moment is not an option.

"Come on Ranma-kun, open those beautiful blue eyes of yours." Nabiki said while laying an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

Sweating furiously, the young genius thought up a plan. 'Why do I have a feeling that as stupid as it sounds, it's going to work?'

"Look! It's a UFO!" He yelled, pointing blindly at where he thought the window was.

"Where!" Nabiki yelled, pulling out a camera from thin air on instinct. 'Kuso, his eyes were closed.' She realized, a second too late.

Ranma opened his eyes and, to his relief, found himself looking at the back of the semi-nude form of Nabiki. He whipped around and was halfway through the door when a shout stopped him.

"HOLD IT!"

Ranma almost turn around but then he remembered the state of dress (or undress) the girl he's talking to was in.

"If you move I'll be force to use my backup plan!" Nabiki threatened, secretly hoping that he wouldn't turn around. A girl decked out in Victoria's secret doesn't look all that threatening really.

Ranma decided to chance it and bolted anyway.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the girl who's formerly the Ice Queen of Furinkan said with a smirk.

Click!

Ranma froze, that was NOT the sound of the shutter on any kind of camera. Following the tingle on the back of his neck, the pig tailed boy rolled to the side just in time to down the large boulder than came crashing down. He tensed and launched into an acrobatic routine that Olympic level gymnasts wouldn't even dream of attempting…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

…just in time to dodge three more equally large boulders.

"What's the big idea?" Ranma yelled, desperately trying to save his life. It wasn't at all hard dodging something that size but the holes the boulders were making on the floor was severely decreasing the amount of space that he could flip/roll/hop to.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Suddenly one of them scraped the cartwheeling boy. He leant against the wall, looking a bit dazed. Seeing the boy injured, Nabiki forgot her plan and threw caution to the wind. She rushed over to him, wanting to see if he was alright. She was half way over to the fallen boy when a boulder fell through the ceiling right above her.

"Nabiki-chan!" Ranma yelled, head pains and subterfuge forgotten in an instant. He leapt across the corridor, which looked a lot more like the crater-filled surface on the moon at the moment. He caught the girl in a warm hug and without missing a beat, dove through one of the holes. With skill born of years and years of practice, he landed them without a hitch.

**0-0-0 This is where my brother threatened to spray me in the eyes with deodorant if I don't stop writing. I defy him, all for your benefit. Ain't I a riot! 0-0-0**

"Ranma-kun…"

"Nabiki-chan…"

"…"

"What were you thinking?" Ranma asked, sounding very angry. "Is proving that I was faking being stupid the whole time important enough to risk your life?" He frowned. "How would hitting me in the head with boulders prove that anyway?"

"Of course it's that important. I would do anything to make you love me, even turning you back into the smarter version of yourself!"

An air of uncomfortable silence ensured as the two of them realized what they both just said.

"W…wait you didn't knew I was pretending to be stupid? You l..love me?" Ranma stammered.

"W…wait you were pretending to be stupid the whole time?"

"…"

"…"

Ranma sighed. "You don't love me Nabiki. What you love was only an illusion."

"How can you say that?" Nabiki yelled. "What I DIDN'T love was the illusion. What I DIDN'T love was the macho jock you showed everyone."

"I... I wasn't sure what I was thinking. Heck, I'm not sure what I am thinking right now either. I was so sure where I was going in life but since yesterday…I…I'm not so sure anymore."

"I…I don't know what to say. How can you love me, you've only known me for one day. How is that love?"

"Like I said I don't know." Nabiki mumbled her eyes downcast. "But if you're with me, I'm willing to find out."

The ex-mercenary felt a finger under her chin. She looked up and lost herself into his soft blue eyes. His face held warmth that he'd never shown her sister before.

"Listen Nabiki, I'm not sure whether it's going to work out or not between us. But like I've said yesterday, I forgave you." Ranma paused. "And I'm willing give it a go too."

Nabiki, who couldn't contain her happiness anymore, leant forward and gave Ranma a passionate kiss on the lips.

"NABIKI!"

The pair broke up and looked around as if finally realizing where they were. Ranma's eyes shifted from the shocked look on Ukyou, anger on Akane and jealousy on Xian Pu and finally a confused one on Kasumi.

"Oh Shit."

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In a dark poorly-lid room, a man was sitting silhouetted next to a large computer.

A phone rang.

"Moshi moshi, Department seventeen speaking."

"Hello Ebishi, I need Miss Koryu to look into a case for me. One Saotome Ranma I believe his name was."

"Ah yes, I think I know which one you're talking about. Surprise perfect score in High School level right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay I'll get her right onto it." Ebishi paused. "But why Koryu? You know how much a pain she can be when I interrupt her time off."

"Because I need a cryptographer, our so-called experts say the boy's grade for the last two years is some kind of a code. The boys couldn't crack it so I figure I'll give her a go."

"Okay I'll call her." Ebishi grumbled. "But if this pisses her off, it's your ass. You know how scary Nodoka is with that katana of her. "

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(1) The editor thinks that's one lucky fish. Can tunas get nosebleeds?

(2) Editor frantically pages through his thesaurus… Um, yeah… sure. Looks good to me.

Before I forget it, the idea of Nabiki using boulders was from Xtor49, Thank you very much for that!

Muah ha ha ha Bow to my dedication, I stood up to my brother so I can finish this tonight. Anyway, I hope this is up to standard, I had a lot of fun writing it and I guess that's all that matters right?

I hope you enjoyed it. As always, review please!

P.S. In case I havn't made it clear, Miss Koryo's first name is Nodoka. And no it isn't a coincidence.

Agian, this couldn't be completed without my trusty editor, Tread Weaver. Please give him a round of applause and cask of spring of drown Tuna.


	10. Another chapter, no jokes

In the dark recess of the Tendo household, an act of unspeakable evil was taking place.

Beneath wooden boards of proud tradition and legacy lies a small room. One that no stairway leads to, no door opens to, and no window illuminates. One that no man, dead or alive, would be foolish enough to tread. And since there's no drawer full of bras and panties to be… ahem… liberated, it's safe to say You Know Who wouldn't go there either. Beside, HE doesn't really count because the writer doesn't even know if he's human (let alone a male) or not.

Lying inside are compilations of spells, curses and various sorts of magical items. Books upon books and scrolls upon scrolls, all of which are mystical in nature, were kept there under the extreme care of their owner. All of them were stacked neatly into an ancient cabinet, giving the place a surreal atmosphere. All save one.

This particular book was currently being used. (Hence the reason why it wasn't stored away. The owner of the place was a very orderly sort of person you know.) Its leather-bound edge sat against an age-old table constructed entirely out of granite. A lone candle, the only ambient light in the confined space, lighted its yellow-tinted pages.

Beside the candle, stood a cauldron filled with viscous substance. The content inside bubbled in a steady rhythm from the heat provided by the fire beneath the cast-iron utensil. As time passes thin wasps of vapor would occasionally rise from the simmering concoction, giving off a wonderful aroma akin to those from fresh baked bread or a well-seasoned ham, which is quite amazing if you consider what was being put into pot.

"A touch of grinded Minotaur toenails, a pinch powdered of gargoyles' skin and a handful of centipedes' legs, crushed not chopped." The figure called out each of the ingredients as she added them as if reminding herself so she wouldn't leave something out. Pausing to double check the recipe from the book beside her, she began to stir the cauldron absent-mindedly all the while humming a merry tune.

After about five minutes the viscous and syrupy solution turned watery and cleared up till it became translucent with a hint of blue in it. The girl lifted the huge spoon she was using to stir the cauldron up to her face. The camera shifted to show the girl's light complexion and her smile as she sniffed her potion. The rest of her face hidden by the pointed hat she was wearing.

The girl in the pointed hat suddenly jumped up in joy causing her ample bosom to jiggle enticingly, threatening to spill out of the Western-style corset they were incased in. She calmed down a bit and began filling the crystal vials she brought with the ingredients for the potion she had just made.

Finally finished with the task, she held one of the vials up to the brightly burning candle. The soft cerulean liquid glowed as the light hit it.

"Muah Ha Ha Ha!" The girl laughed maniacally for a second before she realized what she was doing.

With a soft 'Oh my', Kasumi pulled off her pointed hat and began removing her witch costume. It wouldn't do for her to be caught down here. She began packing her things away, noting that it was almost six o'clock already. She put the vials into her purse and moved towards the hidden passage in the wall.

"Oh no!" the girl exclaimed, stopping as she remembered something. "I better clean the cauldron before the rest of that potion dries up, otherwise it would be real hard work getting it off."

As she went to work scrubbing the blue film that seemed to cover the cauldron she couldn't help but feel the urge to…

"To yodel?" Evil Kasumi asked popping up above the girl's left shoulder.

BLAM!

"No!" Good Kasumi yelled, slamming a mallet into her devil-like counter part.

"I was only trying to help," Evil Kasumi said with a sniffle. She looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"Just be quiet will you," Good Kasumi yelled at her again. She turned to the real Kasumi and said, beaming proudly. "Now, go on Kas-chan. You know you want to."

'Oh my…' Kasumi mumbled then looked left and right before…

"MUAH HA HA HA"

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Fat Cat Production proudly present

A fan fiction by Krimzonrayne, the Avatar of the blood-god

Truth about Wisdom.

Chapter 9: Another chapter, no jokes

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 Darkstalker or Sailormoon. Hmm I wonder what that means.

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"Kasumi-neechan, where are you?" yelled a voice from somewhere above the room.

The girl uttered a small cry of surprise before she rushed to the hidden passage and pulled herself in. Few seconds and a cut scene later, the familiar serene-faced head of Tendo Kasumi popped up from the ground, atop her luscious brown hair was a pot of gardenia. Moving quickly with speed no normal home-makers should possess, she hopped out off the hole and jumped through an open window into the kitchen, all the while finding enough time to replace the potted plant and clean up any sign of there being a secret passage in the garden.

Akane walked into the kitchen, her breaths were still slightly labored from her morning run. "Where were you Kasumi-neechan? I've looked everywhere and couldn't find you before."

"I was in the garden Akane-chan," the older girl said, hiding her purse behind her back. She sniffed the air and looked disdainfully at the sweat-drenched gi on the girl. "I'm going to get started on breakfast now. Why don't you have a bath while you're waiting?"

The younger girl gave a shrug and left, pausing to give her sister an odd look as she walked through the door.

Kasumi stood still for a minute, waiting for the sound of splashing water to indicate that her sister wouldn't be walking in on her while she was doing the deed. She walked over to the cabinet beside the fridge and crouched down. Inside the plain looking cabinet was a state of the art safe one with sixteen-digit code verification system, the same amount that is required for containing biohazard parcels. She turned left and right before started entering the code, which she had committed to memory. The machine beeped once, confirming that the entered code was the correct one. Its silver door opened with a gaseous 'pssf'. Silhouetted inside was pair of crimson demonic eyes.

"Rwahhh!" It screamed, slashing out at the girl with a sharp talon-like claw. But this girl is far from helpless and this was far from the first time it has happened.

"My word bears my will…" Kasumi quickly chanted, weaving the spell into life with a few motions of her hands. "LIGHTNING!"

A bright spark erupted from the tip of her fingers blasting the monster back into its dark confinement. It writhed about for an instant before lashing out at the apparent magical girl once more. This time she was prepared. As the claws approached her she whipped out her freshly prepared potion and emptied the contents of the vial on the monster. It screeched and disintegrated into a puff of smoke.

'Phew, at least that gets rid of ONE of the problems,' the girl thought in relief. 'I swear if I have to explain to the JSDF (Japanese military) one more time how I accumulate bio-hazardous wastes, I'm going to scream.'

Looking left and right to make sure no one was watching, she reached into the safe and pulled out a pitiful remnant of a pan. She closed the mechanical cube and chucked the junk in her hand into a bin.

"That's the second class-3 demonic being this month," Kasumi said aloud, sighing out-of-characterly. "I guess it was too much to ask, hoping for Akane-chan to get better by herself that is."

"You really should be more careful, Kasumi-chan."

"Eep!" Kasumi squealed in fright as she jumped 3 feet up into the air. She turned around prepared to give whoever saw her a blast of memory charm.

"I mean, it could've easily been Nabiki-chan or your father that walked in," Nodoka said pointing at the charred remains in the bin. "What would you've done then?"

"I would've had to cast a memory charm on them," the younger girl admitted rather reluctantly.

"I see," Ranma's mother said, nodding as if she was expecting this answer. "Now, while that might've been okay a couple of years ago, we now have a system in place that deals with sorcery, my department to be exact."

Kasumi gasped. "Oh my, I can't believe I've been breaking the law all this time." Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. "Are you going to arrest me Officer?

Nodoka stared at Kasumi for a moment. When she was certain the girl wasn't kidding, she threw her head back and filled the room with joyous laughter. She put a hand to her mouth, stifling another burst of giggles and began talking to the girl once more.

"Of course not, Kasumi-chan. I mean which penitentiary officer in their right mind would imprison a person on the ground of sorcery? Not to mention how would they go about trying to hold a witch or a sorcerer. Why, the poor lad would've gone crazy trying to get you acquitted the moment her saw you. You're a very '**charming**' sort of woman you know."

Kasumi was torn between blushing at the complement and sighing in relief. But she had to ask…

"But Aunty, how do you deal with other magic users you've come across?"

"Well…" Nodoka said, tapping a finger against her chin. "It usually works out that they either join our department and become the good guys or…"

"…or?"

"Or they blow themselves up trying to kill us. Usually it's some kind of forbidden 'you-should've-known-better' kind of spell."

"Oh right…" The girl mumbled, swallowing bile that was rising in her throat. Maybe she should forget about that Dragon Slave spell. It really is kind of over kill. 'Oh well, joining Aunty won't be so bad. I've always wanted to do something that helps people.'

"Well either that or we decapitate them. Turns out that it's really hard to revive a decapitated corpse."

Kasumi fainted.

"Oh dear, I've hoped she'd gotten used to this by now. I mean, with what happened yesterday and all."

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- The night before - (become one with the flashback)

"Oh Shit," Ranma said out loud, regretting it as he did so. He didn't like swearing, it didn't suit him at all. He even felt the capital 'S' in that one quite clearly.

The girls blinked collectively before they resumed yelling with new vigor. All apart from Kasumi that is, the homemaker was simply sitting there with an unreadable expression on her face.

"HOW COULD YOU CHEAT ON ME YOU JERK? WITH MY OWN SISTER NO LESS!"

"OBSTICLE FOR KILLING!"

"THAT'S MY FIANCEE YOU'RE KISSING YOU HUSSY!"

The pig tailed boy leapt backward, pulling Nabiki and himself out of harm's way. He refrained from doing some of the more 'advanced' mid-air maneuvers knowing that Nabiki wasn't accustomed to triple-flips and other stomach-up setting moves. He looked down, expecting the middle Tendo daughter to be frightened or at least somewhat shocked by the sudden attack. He was surprisingly relieved when he found that she had a silly grin on her face and was enjoying herself tremendously.

'I guess it's true what they say about the quiet ones. Man, who would've thought Tendo 'the ice-queen' Nabiki is an adrenaline junky.'

If Nabiki could have read his mind, she would've informed him that she wasn't adrenaline junky, and she wasn't smiling from being in life-threatening situation at all. In fact, the reason for her smile was none other than being so close to a certain martial artist. Being held so close to him, mesmerized by his overpowering scent and charmed by his innate charisma was very intoxicating indeed.

"Hey! It's not what it looks like," Ranma yelled out of reflex, snapping the nearly-melted Ice Queen of Furinkan out of her pig-tailed boy induced fantasy.

"Hey!" the girl hissed at him, a bit angry at his statement.

The bouncing martial artist blinked as he realized what he said. "What was I SAYING? It IS what it looks like."

The attacks stopped almost instantly as the unfamiliar phenomenon known as 'silence' shrouded the normally chaotic Tendo household. You can forget about the proverbial pin drops, the blinking themselves were deafening enough. Granted, there was a lot of blinking going on at the moment but Ranma could've swore he heard every single one of them.

"I WAS RIGHT! YOU WERE CHEATING ON ME!" Akane screamed, beating the Amazon and Okonomiyaki-chief to the punch, quite literally in fact.

Ranma dropped the ground, doing a split and allowing the fist to pass harmlessly over his head. He rolled forward and, with Nabiki in arm, reached out with a light kick that paralyzed the enraged girl.

"Akane, I'm not cheating on you," the raven-haired youth said. "The reason I said this is because it was never my intention to marry you…" turning towards the other two 'true' fiancées "…any of you, in the first place."

Ukyou and Shampoo put two and two together and prepared to flatten the boy for leading them on with no intention of ever marrying them.

Akane put two and two together and, as usual, got forty-two. "You mean…" she began, looking between the boy and the girl in the boy's arms for confirmation.

"…to tell me that… all this time… you've been…" the girl trotted along slowly, a look of understanding began to show on her face. Her older sister nodded encouragingly, hoping that her self-absorbed younger sister finally got a clue.

"… sleeping with Nabiki and therefore was never going to marry me. RANMA NO BAKA!"

Ranma face faulted into the swinging mallet, it forcefully and painfully catapulted him across the living room. From the far wall, he groaned in head pain but not one caused by the mallet. 'How could anyone be THAT dense?

From the wooden floor, Ukyo and Shampoo also groaned. How could anyone be THAT clueless?

Nabiki also groaned from where she laid, her arms and legs entangled with Ranma's, but for completely different reasons. In fact it wasn't so much of a groan but more of a moan.

A certain un-cute tomboy only needed to hear that once before drawing the 'obvious'. (To her of course, damn that girl's a pervert) With the self-righteous task of pounding the pervert firmly fixed in her mind, she began advancing on the poor (Not because he close to Nabiki, Honest!) boy.

The door belled rang.

"Hi Aunty Nodoka," Kasumi chimed from the genkan. (The entrance)

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- Somewhere far from Japan-

"This is interesting. A fragmented bi-polynomial you say? Why, I've haven't seen one of those in ages." An eerily charming voice ranged over the phone.

Ebishi shivered. He didn't know there was such a thing as British-accented Japanese but if there was, it would be how he would describe Nodoka's accent.

"SOoo… who wrote it?" Koryu Nodoka asked coyly over the phone, her arrogant smirk was practically visible. 'It's the same as always,' she thought. 'The old boys couldn't crack it so they came running to me.'

Ebishi grinned. It was nice to know Nodoka could be wrong for once. She's way too confident for her own good anyway. "Actually we know who wrote it this time, it's--"

"Well good for you, Ebi-kun," Nodoka cut him off, not the least bit bothered. However, her voice took on a chilly edge. "So what do you need me for? This couldn't possibly be a courtesy call, because you know how I feel about you guys calling me on my holiday."

"Well we know who wrote it but we don't know what it says," The agent said, almost stuttering. His training in OSI had helped him a lot in the past but it was next to useless when it came to Nodoka. He shivered again. It wasn't because she's an ace marksman in dozens of weapons and an expert martial artist. No, he was positive she wouldn't actually kill him.

Nodoka was a bit confused and annoyed at the same time. "What do you mean? Arrest him and interrogate him like we always do." While she liked code breaking as much as the next cryptographer, why waste time and effort cracking the code when it's so much easier to crack the mind?

"We can't. He hasn't done anything wrong."

"So? Get him arrested for Speeding or Jay-walking or SOMETHING. It's not THAT hard is it?" She sighed exasperatedly. 'Men, can't they do ANYTHING right?'

"Well, he doesn't drive and unless we have flying cars, what he does isn't exactly Jay-walking either," Ebishi said as he began cold sweating anew.

"What do you mean-- RATAT TAT TAT TAT TAT" The woman's voice was cut off by the sound of automatic machine-gun fire.

Ebishi stared at his phone incredulously. 'She couldn't possibly...' A loud crack of a high power pistol being fired at close range came over the line along with a muffled cry. The aged agent brought the phone back to his ear. 'Gotcha!' Said a voice that he identified as Nodoka. It was followed by a softer 'Nice shot, mum'.

"Hey! Was that--" He began to say only to be cut off again.

"I'm sorry but I'm a tad busy right now could you call me back..."

"Mum! There are more of them coming!"

"Alright Ebi-kun you're going to have to talk to Miyo for a sec because I'm --BANG-- very busy at the moment."

"Miyo! Katana!"

There was a whooshing sound of the cell phone being thrown through the air. An instant later, Ebishi found himself talking to a somewhat hyperactive young girl. "Hi Uncle Charlie," She chirped.

"I told you to stop calling me that, Miyo-chan," Ebishi grumbled at having to talk to the kid. Granted, most kids aren't as mature as Miyo or wield deadly Katanas with her precision but it's the principle of the thing. Beside, compared to Nodoka she has a long way to go yet. "Why do you call me that anyway?"

"Well what else would you call a mysterious stranger who rang up your Mum and sent her on dangerous missions?" Getting no response, she sighed. "Never mind, it was a weak joke. You really need to go out sometime Uncle Charlie. You know, catch up on movies and the likes."

"I'm not really sure I want to know but... where did you guys go for holiday this time?"

"Europe, Romania, lower Transylvania to be exact," the cheerful girl said cryptically.

For normal family, he would've guessed maybe scenery, sightseeing or fresh-air. But the Koryus are far from normal. "...vampires?" He guessed. At least if she says no, he could claim it was a joke.

"Yep, got it in one!" Miyo chirped. "Vampires, Ghouls, Undeads, the whole circus. In fact, I bet you couldn't even imagine how much ammo we've used up."

Ebishi tried to anyway. The result made him started shivering all over again. 'That's it, I'm switching back to Fujitsu,' He thought. 'Stupid Americans, they can't even get their air-conditioners right.'

"So how's your mother doing? Is she still knee-deep in supernatural-beings or can I finally talk to her?"

"Whoa, Nice! Huh? What did you say Uncle Charlie? I was too busy watching Mum. Man, three ghouls in one swing, Mum sure is having fun."

"Never mind," Ebishi mumbled into the receiver, sighing as he did so. "You've just answered my question."

"Well?"

"Well? What do you mean, well?"

"What kind of mission do you have for my mother this time? Because if it's anything like last time, I'm going."

"Come on Miyo, you know that I'm not allowed to disclose any information to a civilian much less a minor like you. The zombie case was a one-time thing and we only let you go because of your expertise with a Katana. And even then, it's because your mother insisted. Furthermore, all--"

"All information regarding Department Seventeen is top secret and therefore strictly forbidden to anyone other than its personnel and the Emperor, yeah yeah, I've heard this speech before. Just tell me already."

"…"

"…Mum, uncle Ebishi said he has a confession to make. Something about your last mission…" She yelled out making sure he could hear every word clearly.

"Stop! Stop! I'll tell you!" Ebishi practically screamed into the receiver. If Nodoka knew what happened to the surveillance tape from her last mission, she would gut him. Several times… in a row… per day.

"Well?" Miyo said with a smirk almost identical to the one a certain pig-tailed boy usually sports.

"It's nothing you would be interested in anyway. Just some unknown teenage-prodigy getting full marks on all his end-of-the-year exams. Another department wants your mother to decode something for them that's all."

"Feh, prodigy my butt." The teenager snorted. "I bet it's probably another geek in glasses. The circle we traveled in, that's real talent." It was true, she could get full mark on any college entrance exam let alone a high school one any day of the week. Matching dragon's fire with a single spell, now that MIGHT impresses her.

"What was that sweetie? I didn't quite catch it," Nodoka shouted back to her daughter as she pulled her sword free from the ghoul that was impaled on its business end. The body of the last supernatural being in the area crumbled to the ground before exploding with a flash of light into billowing dust.

"Nothing Mum," She yelled back before turning her attention to the phone in her hand once more. "I think Mum's done now. Do you want to talk to her?"

"Yes, please," The agent said carefully. Being a highly decorated officer, saying please doesn't come quite easily for him but he learned quickly though. People tend to do that when they have to deal with the Koryu.

"Mum, Ebishi-san wants to talk to you," Miyo called out. Without waiting to see if she was ready or not, she spun the cell-phone around on her hand, changed the grip and threw it at the older woman at high speed. The electronic device carved a path in the still cold air, arcing towards Nodoka like a throwing star. The kimono-clad woman was cleaning her Katana when it reached her. With the speed that paralleled a striking viper, she whipped out her hand and grabbed the phone just as it was about to pass her by. She flicked it open with a snap and placed it between her shoulder and her ear so she could talk and clean her sword at the same time.

"Phew, that was invigorating. Now, where were we Ebi-kun?"

"Emm… there's a fragmented bi-polynomial written by a teenage prodigy. The techies from Research and Development couldn't crack it so Keiton asked me to ask you to decode it for them."

"Since you called, of course I'll do it Ebi-kun," Nodoka replied in oddly enthusiastic tone, giving the said 'Ebi-kun' another shiver. 'I might as well do it. It's not like this is going to take me hours or anything.' She thought.

"Do you want the boys at R&D to send you the differentiated and rearranged form?"

"Oh that's quite alright Ebi-kun, I'll be fine with just the original codex."

"Alright then, I'll tell them to send it to your e-mail address. Enjoy the rest of you holiday Nodoka-san. I'll see you in a week."

"Why thank you Ebi-kun, I believe I will." She paused for a second. "By the way, what is the teenager's name?"

"I believe it is Ranma of the Saotome clan."

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Ranma lifted up his head, all traces of pain gone in a blink of an eye. Could that be her already? It was too soon but he could always hope. He stared at the door expectantly as it slid open, revealing the person on the other side. An elegantly dressed lady clad in a kimono with her hair tied up in a tight bun. She smiled brightly upon seeing her son.

"Hi Ranma-chan," Nodoka called out to the pig-tailed boy, acting as if lying against the wall with your whole bodyweight supported by your head was the commonest sight in the world.

The teenage prodigy hid a sigh by leaning into the soft pillows that was beside him. 'I guess it was too much to hope,' He thought. 'Wait, since when do we have any pillow in the living room?' Frozen in horror demons themselves wish they could instill in him, the martial artist turned his head almost one hundred and eighty degrees eliciting a passionate moan from someone behind him as he did so. He stared at the two soft mounds, which were cushioning his head. They were pillowly, yes. They were pillow-like, true. But pillows, they were not.

There were breasts. Nibiki's creamy white, bountiful, Victoria's secret clad breasts. And the secret was being examined up close and personal indeed.

"Oh my!" Two ladies chorused from the sliding door. One flushed bright red while another beamed proudly. "How manly!" Guess who said that.

"It's not what you think!" Ranma tried to yell but he was muffled by a mouthful of bosoms. He looked up at the semi-naked girl on top of him. "Could you get off me please?"

"No," Nabiki said, quivering her lips a bit. It was partly from her mode of dress but mostly from Ranma's talking. The vibration from his words was giving her some downright wonderful sensations around her chest area.

Ranma sighed rather pointedly at the girl straddling him. "Can this get any worse?" he muttered to no one in particular.

Creak!

"Oh oh," The boy said, looking up a ceiling. It was badly cracked and peppered with enough holes to make it looks like a cheap Swiss cheese. He jumped up and pulled Nabiki into his arms, ignoring what the quick motion did to the brown haired girl's substantial assets. An analytical part of his mind came up with 'I thought bras were supposed to minimize the jiggling…' while the hormone dominated part was still stuck at 'Jiggling Jiggling.'

Hey, he's a guy too.

"Guys get outside NOW!" Ranma yelled at them, focusing back to the matter at hand. He leapt outside and deposited Nabiki gently onto the grass. He opened his mouth to ask if everyone was okay when he noticed that his Mum wasn't with them. He was about to run back inside when Nodoka emerged from the door carrying her ever-present cloth bundle.

"I left my Katana inside so I had to go back and get it."

Ranma let out a huge breath he didn't knew he was holding. She may not be his biological mother but he'd grown quite fond of her. He was about to turn around and ask the girls if they were ok when he spotted something in the corner of his eye. It took him half a quarter of a second to see that there was a widening crack in the wooden beam just above his mother. Cursing peripheral vision, he sprinted forwards her as fast as he could. He positioned himself over her shielding her from the falling debris. The fiancées tried to come to the pair's aid but it happened too fast and within seconds the mother and son were buried under.

"Ranma?' Nabiki said sobering up from her intimate encounter with the pig-tailed boy.

SLASH!

The girls blinked in surprise as they watch the pile of debris come apart and parted into several pieces. When the smoke cleared they could see Ranma cradling his mother in one arm with his other one held up in high block position. With three translucent blue ki blades protruding from his knuckles!

"You have to do better than that!" the boy yelled defiantly at Heaven. Since he was inside his words only served to make more of the cracked ceiling fall on top him. Ranma made a slashing motion with his hand and shredded the falling debris into fine dust.

"Aiyah! Ranma lie to Shampoo. Ranma no afraid of cats. Perfect the cat fist, Yes?" The purple tresses Amazon asked, giddy at the prospect not having to stay away from her husband in her cursed form. Why, she bet they would make a perfect couple now. One trained in the Cat fist and another turned into a cat.

"Yeah kind of," Ranma said after having translated the girl's words with the 'Japanese-spoken-by-rural-Chinese-girl to Japanese' dictionary he had memorized. "It's true that I'm not afraid of cats but…" Ranma trailed off.

"But what?" They all said as one, each of them hanging on to his every word.

"I'll tell you later. Hey, Nabiki…" The boy said turning towards the delectable Ice Cream of Furinka… I mean the former Ice Queen of Furinkan. "How long does whatever you use to attract the cats last for?"

"It should last at least another good half an hour," Nabiki said, seeing what Ranma was getting at. She then started to panic a little. "You're right! Where are the cats?" Someone's going to pay for this, no one rip Tendo Nabiki off and get away with it!

"No I don't think he ripped you off, I can still smell the pheromone in the air," Ranma said, guessing from the brief flash of anger in the girl's eyes. "Oh well. I don't care where they are as long as they're not here."

Plop!

"Hello there," Kasumi said, regarding with a smile the kitten that had fallen onto Ranma's head.

The girls blinked collectively.

"Ran-chan?" The okonomiyaki chief asked carefully. The boy said he's no longer afraid of the furry house pet but if he wasn't afraid of them then why was he frozen there as if paralyzed by fear?

"Ranma?" Akane said a little worriedly as the boy slowly lifts the kitten from his head and looking at it carefully. The boy had a weird gleam in his eyes and she was afraid for the young feline. It would be easy for someone of his martial art capability to accidentally hurt the poor thing.

"WAI! KAWAI NEKO!" Ranma suddenly squealed and hugged the kitten tightly to himself.

The girls all did a classic face plant in perfect synchronization while Nodoka just smiled lightly, enjoying the three way hug between her son and the cat.

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- In Bucharest the capital city of Romania -

"Hello, how can I help you?" Michal, the attendant, asked Nodoka in broken and badly accented English, hoping to any higher being that she spoke English. It's nearly the end of his shift and he didn't want to stay any longer than he had to.

"Yes, I'd like to book two tickets for the next plane heading for Narita Airport please. What's the departure time?" The Japanese woman replied in perfect Romanian, shocking the hell out of the pimply-faced youth.

"A... a second please," the twenty-something stammered before turning to his computer and began typing furiously. Something about this woman told him she didn't like to be kept waiting. "The next flight is 10am tomorrow, doamnă." (Madam)

"Oh dear, that's far too late. Looks like we've have to charter a flight then."

"T.. tu nevoie l.. la spre acuzaţie un JET?" He said in disbelief. She's chartering a plane just because there isn't one flying to Tokyo tonight!

"No dear, a Lear jet. If I must charter a flight I might as well be traveling luxuriously." She corrected him, once again in uncanny Romanian tongue.

"Mum!" yelled a voice from behind her. Nodoka turned around and was greeted with the sight of her 15 year-old daughter holding one of the airport police hostage at gunpoint.

Did I mention she was also being surrounded by a dozen of the same kinds of officers, all armed to their teeth with military grade weapons?

"Oh dear," She muttered in Japanese before rising her voice. "Secure your firearms!"

Despite their combat training, more than half of the officers turned and looked at her. Hardly their fault really, it's not often that a Romanian air-marshal received a command from whom they thought to be an Asian tourist. Miyo was about to take advantage of this distraction and incapacitate the lot when a sharp cry from her mother stopped her too.

"You!" Nodoka said, pointing at one of the officer still aiming his customized Steyre-Aug 4 at her daughter. "Call your superior and read this code to him and ask him to run it now!" She handed him an unmarked credit card with a single 10 digit code inscribed on one side. "And you!" She continued, turning towards her daughter who had secured her pistol but was still holding the man in a headlock. The girl promptly let go of the man once she saw her mother's eyes. 'Damn who know Mum could be so scary,' she thought.

Nodoka took a deep breath to calm herself before regarding her daughter with a solemn but still stern face. "Explain yourself, young lady."

Miyo was a bit miffed at being growled at when it wasn't her fault in the first place. "Mum, you had me carry your luggage, which I don't have the licenses for all of the weapons that were in it. I tried to explain but my Romanian was very rusty."

"Oh dear. I'm sorry honey, I was such a hurry that I forgot all about it." Nodoka turned to one of the men in bullet-proof Kevlar vest that were surrounding them and said with disdain. "You boys can lower your firearms now; it's all a big misunderstanding."

They all looked at each other in confusion. A situation like this was never mentioned in the protocols. The officer who was given the card gave his comrades an order to hold their fire until he got back and left to do as the lady had told him. Later on he would've wondered why he did as she'd asked or how she knew he was the leader of the squad in the first place.

Twenty tensions filled minutes later, the daughter-mother pair was sitting comfortably in an opulently furnished lunge on a Lear jet.

"Phew, finally. I thought it was going to drag on forever," Miyo grumbled, massaging away the cramps in her arms. It wasn't easy putting a person twice your weight and height in a headlock, especially one who's trained in hand-to-hand combat.

"I said I was sorry dear. Now stop grumbling, it isn't ladylike." Nodoka lightly admonished her daughter all the while never once took her eyes off the blade she was polishing.

'Not ladylike?' The girl thought with a sweat drop. 'And going around killing monster as a hobby is?'

Miyo coughed to get her mother attention. "So, Mum. Why are we in such a hurry to get back to Japan anyway? I know you can work on that code on your laptop and just send it back."

"Ah, the code, I've completely forgotten about it," The kimono clad woman said suddenly jumping to her feet.

"Wha…?" The girl said in confusion. If this wasn't about the code, then what?

"It's about your brother, Ranma," Nodoka told the girl as she started booting up her laptop. As soon as it was ready, her finger was dancing across the keyboard with precision ingrained into her from years ago.

"But I thought he's dead," Miyo said, recalling the tragic fire that claims the life of her half brother and her mother's ex that she heard from the older woman.

"That what I thought too but I should've known better. This whole affair smells like Genma's doing."

"But why would he do that Mum? I thought he loved you."

"Well I didn't think I'd tell you this Miyo, especially since Genma and Ranma died I thought I might as well leave it at that but..." She hesitated, pausing to bit her lips in indecision before continuing. "You see Miyo, before our house was destroyed by the arson Genma and I weren't getting along. In fact the subject of divorce actually came up during our frequent arguments."

"So you're thinking that Genma planned the arson as a cover for his death? But what about the bodies?"

"The police assumed they were incinerated."

"Incinerated?"

"Yes, incinerated. The forensics said there was, or rather, were a series of explosions from Genma's lab which incinerated the greater portions of the house."

"…" Miyo sat in silence, contemplating the recent turns of event. It would be kind of nice to have a brother. God knows, she's lonely enough to need one. Uncle Ebishi said he's a prodigy. Maybe he won't be too freaked out with their lifestyle. She wondered how he'd feel about having a sister who can cast spells and deflects bullets with a sword.

"Aha! Take that you stupid code. Co/3r in P#er and bo/ before my l33t HXA0Ring skill!" Nodoka jumped up and yelled at the computer's screen.

Miyo sweat dropped. 'Or a nutcase of a mother.'

"So what does the code says, Mum?" She asked as her mother composed herself and sat back down and began reading the decoded message.

"Wow, this is nothing short of amazing!"

"What is it Mum?" the girl repeated, leaning over to read the message. It appeared to be a poem. A haiku but written in English but structured with Chinese grammar. The content was about a snail teetering on the edge of a cliff. It was highly abstract and in the girl's opinion, borderline psychotic. "I don't see any… oh wait, I think I get it now. There's another code hidden within this one!" She exclaimed turning to her mother in excitement.

"Yes, it is quite ingenious is it not? And to think that my Son wrote this, oh this has been quite a day indeed," Nodoka proclaimed, her fingers busy decoding the poem. Soon most of words are rearranged, some shifted and some translated. The end result was a four line message written in Japanese, addressed to one, Saotome Nodoka. It read:

Greeting Mother,

I hope this message found you in good health. I've searched for years for your location and the little information I found led me nowhere. I've finally resorted to broadcasting this encrypted message out in hope of it catching your eyes or the eyes of those with the resources to read this in hope someday I'll be reunited with you. I'm currently residing with the Tendo clan in Nerima Ward.

Kindest of regards,

Saotome Ranma

"Wow…" Miyo said in awe. She didn't even think she could attempt something like this.

"Yes, very impressive. This calls for a celebration." Nodoka picked up a phone from the stand beside her. "Could you please bring us some refreshment?"

Within minutes a woman arrived pulling a cart behind her.

"I'd like warm Sake please."

The woman handed her the requested beverage and turned to the girl. "And you miss?"

"Don't even think about it, young lady. You know you're not allowed to drink champagne until you're eighteen."

"But Mum!"

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"Ranma-kun?" Kasumi said to the boy who's still cradling the kitten and his Mum. The boy shook his head a couple of times to clear it. He turned around to see the girls staring at him like he'd grown another head and sighed.

"I guess you guys want an explanation, huh?"

Nods.

"Well I DID have a fear of cats at first, but pretty soon I figured out that it would be my ultimate weakness if my enemies ever learned about it so I tried to find a cure for it." He took a deep breath and continued. "I did get rid of the fear and since I technically mastered the technique, I gained control of it. But the drug I took had some side effects."

"Wait! You've been taking drugs?" Nabiki asked. "What is it?"

"Well its name is really technical and scientific-like, I'm sure you won't recognize it," The pig tailed boy said, trying to evade the subject.

"Just tell me already."

"It's Prozac. Now do you want to hear about the side effect or not?"

The girls nodded again. This time they had a look that said 'I-see-so-you're-crazy-that's-different' written on their face.

"In returns for not being afraid of cats, I now suffer from ailurophilism."

Blank looks.

"I'm an ailurophile."

More blank looks.

"I'm crazy about cats. I have a totally mindless and limitless obsession with feline creatures. I can go completely Gah Gah over anything that resembles cats."

"Meow," The cat cried. It looked agitated, as if it wanted to get away from something.

Beep!

Ranma blinked, that sounded like his Ryoga Tracking device.

BOOM!

Another one of the living room's walls blew opened, adding yet another hole into the damn-near crumbling house.

"Ranma because of you I've seen Hell!" Ryoga rushed forward at such speed that it made him seem like a blur to Ranma. The pig-tailed boy only had enough time to place the kitten and his mother down before the boy with bandana tackled him. He braced himself for the pain as he watched his rival raise his arms up for the strike. He gritted his teeth and felt… nothing? He opened his eyes and to his amazement the boy was hugging him.

Ryoga was hugging him.

"Thank you so much Ranma. Because of you I've finally reunited with my family!"

Blanks look abound once again. This time even Ranma was clueless.

"Wait, what are you talking about Ryoga?" He stared into the other boy's eyes. They were wide opened and the irises were dilated. "What are you on?"

"Marijuana, but that's not the point. The point is I'm a demon and my family lives in Hell!" Ryoga shouted excitedly gesturing at the hole in the wall he'd made. Ranma averted his eyes from the fanged boy's face and followed his finger. Standing at the impromptu door was an impressively built young woman with a set of tiny wings on top of her head. She gave him a look which made him gulp audibly and the girls to preen their claws.

"That's my Mum, Morrigan!" the lost boy exclaimed, oblivious to the building tension. "Yeah, it turns out that the reason I get lost so much was because I have this latent teleportation power. My Mum is teaching me how to control it now so I don't get lost anymore. Sweet huh?"

Ranma could only nod. He was hypnotized by Morrigan's hips as the demoness sauntered toward him. When she reached him, she looked as if she was going to help him get up when she conveniently slipped and landed on top of him.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Hmm… that odd, it doesn't sound like any one of his fiancées or the girls present.

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"Mum, slow down!" Miyo tried to yell but her cry was muffled by her helmet.

"WHAT WAS THAT HONEY?" Nodoka yelled but her voice was swept away by the rushing wind. She leaned down a bit further and gave the bike a bit more gas.

"I SAID, SLOW DOWN!" The girl screamed, clutching even tighter to her mother's back. Sure she loved taking her bike out for a spin as much as the next motor head but doing over two hundred kilometers per hour, even on a freeway, is insane.

Finally the ride was over. Nodoka jumped off of the bike and began striding up to the Tendo residence. Miyo tried to jump up but she fell face first into the ground. She finally pulled herself up, resisted the urge to throw up and followed her mother to the door.

Nodoka knocked on the door once, and to her surprise, caused it to fall apart. Into tiny pieces.

"Termites?" Miyo guessed from behind her.

"No, cats," the older woman said pointing at the claw marks on the wooden door. She stepped over the fallen door, pulling out her side arm as she did so.

"Cats?" Miyo asked incredulously as she followed her Mum into the house. Upon receiving a confirmatory nod, she followed her Mum's example and pulled out her Glock semi-automatic, clocking it with a soft crack. The pair cautiously moved past the genkan and into the living room. And that's when thing got… weird.

On the floor, was Ranma (She recognized him from a picture she bought. Unsurprisingly, he was famous. Surprisingly it was from a girl.) and he wasn't alone. Lying on top of him was a demoness. Closer examination of her face showed that she was none other than her nemesis. Morrigan Aensland, the succubus queen.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SON!" She yelled aiming her pistol at the demoness molesting her son.

All eyes turned her direction then to the other Nodoka sitting on the ground near her son, then towards Ranma. The boy scrambled away from the amorous queen of the underworld who remained unnerved at her nemesis's entry but continued groping Ranma anyway. He jumped to his feet and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Hi Mum, I can explain." He began, looking nervously back and forth between his two mothers.

-End of flashback-

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Before you'll kill me I can explain. Really, I can. The lateness of this chapter is entirely due to my exam block which took about a week and a half worth of writing away. Also my brother is, again, being a pain in the back side and constantly bugs me by kicking me off the computer so he can play Counter Strike.

Spending time creating a perfect character in Dynasty Warrior also doesn't help.

Anyway, excuses aside I hope you do enjoy this chapter. Please review until next time, Ja ne

P.S. This story could not be readable without the help of my trusty proofreader Tread Weaver-san, who have attached the description of the Spring of Drown Tuna just incase anyone actually want to send him a cask.

"Ooooh, most honorable sirs, that very tragic story from 800 year ago of tuna that survived 2000 mile journey from ocean, only to drown... in... a... pool.

Hmm, I think most honorable government has started drugging my supplies. I make no sense anymore."


End file.
